That Girl
by twifantasy
Summary: Renesmee's whole life had been planned for her the second Jacob imprinted on her. She knew her future as an imprint, and couldn't wait to marry Jacob. But marriage brought them new challenges. A pregnancy, being at the top of that list. Sequel to Bet Me and Leah's Happily Ever After, but can be read alone.
1. Chapter 1

That Girl

**CHAPTER ONE**

I climbed in my red charger and put the key in the ignition. It had been eight years, eight months, and twelve days since I was born. Today was my last day of High School. My name is Renesmee Carlie Cullen, and I am a vampire/human half-breed.

Lots of things have changed since the day I was born. Let me start at the beginning. Quite a few years ago, a little after I was born, several new young men had changed into wolves over in La Push. Their names were Caleb, Jeremy, Matt, Lucas, Nathan, Kyle, and Wyatt. About six months later, a new, and very different kind of wolf had emerged. His name is Joel. Joel is different because he changed at the age of twenty-one. He was late because Jacob's dad's younger brother had been his father. He had never met him, seeing as he died before he even knew the girl was pregnant. He had grown up not knowing any of his father's family, and none of his father's family knowing about him. He had imprinted on Leah Clearwater, in the same second that she had imprinted upon him. They were now married with three kids; Nicholas Sam, Alexis Jane, and Cole Andrew. Sam and Emily were married with three kids as well; Jennifer Rose, Brandon Michael, and Allison Grace. All of these births had happened at the same time. The wolf gene in these kids was funny that way.

There was also another new wolf in La Push. Her name was Brooke. She was Jared's little sister, and had changed when she was sixteen. She and Embry had imprinted upon each other, in the same way Leah and Joel had. Brooke had given birth to twins about six months ago along with Kim, Rachel, Leah, and Emily. Brooke and Embry had named their babies Madison Grace and Marcus John. Rachel and Paul had named their son Joshua Kyle, and their older daughter was named Kristen Skye. Kim and Jared named their daughter Kelsey Renee, and their older son was named David Tyler.

The newest wolves were twin girls named Kaylie and Lauren. They had imprinted on Collin and Brady, at, you guessed it, the same second they had imprinted had imprinted on them… yeah it had been totally crazy.

And now more on my vampire family. Mom and Dad worked at the hospital now. They had gone to med school, and with hard work, dad had become a doctor, and mom a nurse. They both enjoyed working at Forks Community Hospital. There were four new vampires at my house now. Connor had come when I was only about a year old. He lived with us for a year-and-a- half before he began High School with me. There… he had met a girl named Julia Bird. I had watched them struggle through three years of hardships… sometimes involving me. You see, the Volturi had found out about Julia and had set us an ultimatum. When we didn't turn Julia fast enough, they attacked her, injuring her severely, but not unrecoverably. When we still didn't change her, they attacked Connor, putting thirty-four bites across his body. The last person they had attacked, about a month after Connor and about fourteen months after Julia, was me. They had beaten me to a pulp… and scared me half to death. I was terrified… It had all ended when Connor and Julia were married and Julia was turned into a vampire. They had got their happily ever after and I was happy for them. Connor had a tendency to be logical about things; it was kind of his talent. Julia's talent was finding people. She saw an image of them wherever they were, kind of like Alice's visions. It only worked on people she had met though; she couldn't do it with everybody. She could do it with me and all the wolves though.

The other two vampires were named Andrea and Zach. They had found us when their coven had tried to attack us while on a hunting trip. They hadn't fought, and had talked to us and learned about us. We had accepted them into our family immediately. Zach's talent was seeing people's pasts, like Alice saw futures. Andrea's talent was seeing the amount of good in people. She described it as a gift and a curse, sometimes making her terrified of people she barely knew. They had never been separated since the time that they became vampires. Today was Zach's last day of his junior year, and Andrea's last day of her freshman.

Tanya, along with Eleazor, Carmen, Kate, and Garrett, all still lived in Denali. Kate and Garrett had gotten married a few months after my first birthday. Tanya had also gotten married, only a few weeks ago. The vampire she had married was named Andrew. He had a certain talent for… hiding. When he didn't want to be found, there was a good chance that he wasn't going to be. He was a great guy though, and he was doing excellently with our very… different… lifestyle.

The only reason I had even been allowed to go to High School in the first place is that my growing had slowed down greatly, to the point of human speed. I was completely growth-stagnant now, and would stay this way for the rest of forever. My grandpa Charlie had married Sue Clearwater last summer, and had moved to La Push with her and Seth. Seth had imprinted upon Abbey Nixon about seven years ago, and they were planning on getting married in a few months.

As for me, I spent every second of everyday either with Jacob, thinking about Jacob, dreaming about Jacob, or wondering where and what Jacob was doing. Lately, I had been spending more time then not doing the first, but school got in the way sometimes. That's why I was so excited to be finishing High School today. I was top of my class, but my extra-quick mind hadn't had to try very hard to accomplish that task.

I had bought the charger with money I had been saving for a while, and my dad agreed that if I bought the car, he'd pay the insurance. I only had a few mortgages left until I completely owned the car, because I put down such a big down-payment.

Today was an early release Thursday because it was the last day of school, and tomorrow was the graduation ceremony.

Andrea and Zach jumped in the backseat of the car just as I began to pull out. I immediately started off at a speed at least ten miles above the speed limit, and got faster after that. I wasn't as crazy as my parents when it came to driving, but trust me; I wasn't one to drive at the speed limit.

As the pointless hours where we heard pointless reminders ticked by, I felt my over-active heart rate continue to go up. I was going to see Jacob in two hours. One hour. Forty-five minutes. Twenty minutes. Ten minutes. Five minutes. One minute. Thirty seconds. Ten seconds. Three…Two…One… _ring_. I cheered with the rest of the seniors as we were literally set free into the world. The rest of the kids were almost as excited as the seniors, because they had the whole summer laid out in front of them, just like we had our whole lives laid out in front of us.

I literally didn't stop as I drove past the big white house, I just slowed down enough to let Zach open the door as he and Andrea jumped out. I was on the road to La Push within minutes. I let my nose take over as I searched for where Jacob was at the moment. I found him after only a few moments. He was at Sam's house; it seemed he was trying to help out with the kids. It was the last day of school for the La Push kids as well, and only a few were still milling about. Wyatt, Lauren, and Kaylie were graduating on Saturday, but La Push graduations were a little different from the Forks Graduation. It had to do with their Native American culture or something…

I whipped the car into Sam and Emily's driveway, parked it, and yanked the key out of the ignition. I slammed the door, and Sam yelled, "It's open," before I had even knocked.

I opened the door, and was immediately greeted by almost-three-year-old Brandon, who held his arms up and started calling, "Ness, Ness," in his little boy voice.

I picked him up and swung him onto my hip after sneaking a kiss on his head. He laid his head on my shoulder. I checked my watch. It was nearing one o'clock, or in other words, naptime. "Hi," I spoke to him. "Where's Jacob?" I whispered to him.

He giggled, and pointed toward one of the three small bedrooms in the house. "Sissy," he giggled.

I took that to mean that he was playing with Jenny, or at least in Jenny and Alli's room.

Sure enough, as I rounded the kitchen, waving to Sam and the baby, I saw Jacob helping Jenny put together a puzzle in her small bedroom. Her bed was pushed against one wall, with a white crib on the other side of the room. The pale pink walls were perfect for her and Alli. Her closet doors were shut, and the room looked clean and neat. "Hi," I said as I came in with Brandon.

Jacob looked up with a smile that made my racing heart stop. "Hi," he said back.

"How was your last day of pre-school Jenny?" I asked her.

"Good," she said. "But it was very short."

In La Push and Forks, there was all day Kindergarten after two years of half-day preschool. "I see," I said. "What are you going to do this summer?" I asked her.

"We're having a bonfire tonight," she said.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes," she said. "You're invited."

"Well I'll probably be there then." I said. "What else are you doing this summer?"

"I don't know," she said brightly. "Maybe I'll get to go swimming at the beach again, if it's not too cold."

"That's a good idea," I told her. "Did you forget though? There's going to be a wedding in a couple of weeks. And Seth and Abbey are getting married after that!"

"I did forget!" she said matter-of-factly. Collin and Brady had proposed to Kaylie and Lauren a month ago on their eighteenth birthdays. It would be a quiet backyard-style ceremony, with just family and close friends.

"That's okay," I said. I patted Brandon's head, which was still drooped on my shoulder. "I think," I said. "That it's definitely time for your brother and sister's nap."

She looked at Brandon. "I think your right," she whispered.

"What do you do during naptime?" I whispered back. Jacob was smiling at us.

"I be quiet and watch a movie," she said automatically.

"Which one do you want to see?" Jacob asked. "I'll start it for you."

They got onto their feet and Jenny pulled Jacob by the hand out of her room and into the small living room. I listened to Jacob inserting the disk into the player, and heard Jenny settling into the couch. I held Brandon close to my chest, and rocked him until he was completely asleep. I laid him on his small bed, and kissed his head. I flipped on the fan as I walked out of the room, and met Sam in the middle as he laid Alli down in her crib.

"Thank-you," he whispered.

"No problem," I whispered back.

Jacob was sitting on the couch, with Jenny laying across his lap, curled into a ball. "How was your last day?" Sam asked.

"Incredibly dull, but hey, we were all excited to be finally free towards the end," I shrugged.

He smiled. "High School was… well… really different for me… but it was good. I like where my life is a lot better now."

I smiled and raised a brow. "Yeah, High School was really different for me too."

He guffawed. "I'll bet it was."

We were standing in the living room by now, and Jacob was rubbing Jenny's back as they watched the movie.

"Jacob!" I whispered extremely loudly.

He smiled at me again as he looked at me. "What?" He whispered back just as loudly.

"Can we go?"

"Sure." He patted Jenny's head and slid out from under her.

"Bye," she whispered.

"Bye," we both said at the same time.

We walked out of the house and slid into my car. "Where to Ms. Cullen?" he asked.

I sighed. "I don't know," I said. "Let's just drive."

A few hours later, I was parking the car along the side of Sam and Emily's road. It was a cloudy twilight, but not rainy, and fairly warm for June. I could hear that most of the others were already here. We had gone all the way up to Seattle, but we hadn't actually got out of the car… We had done some sight-seeing, and window shopping, and had screamed the lyrics to the song on the radio as we flew along the highway at eighty miles an hour.

Jacob grabbed my hand as he pulled me around back of the house. They already had the fire roaring, and had started a huge pile of roasted and unroasted hot dogs. Jenny and Nick were looking at a picture book together, and they were attempting to read to their siblings. The little kids were coloring in coloring books, with _washable_ crayons fortunately. The babies, who were now five months old, were all laying in a row on a separate blanket, rolling over each other, or pushing up on their hands and knees. They we being watched _very_ carefully by Claire, who was now ten years old. Though she was going to be in sixth grade in September, she was small for her age.

"Hi," I said as I sat down next to Abbey.

"Hi," she said back. Abbey was now nineteen years old, and was in college studying to become an OB/GYN.

"How's college?"

She rolled her eyes. "_Way_ over rated."

I smiled. "Yeah…" I shrugged. "One advantage of being immortal, you can go to college as many times as you want, get as many degrees as you want… and with my grades, get accepted at any college you want."

She raised her eyebrows and nodded thoughtfully. "Wow. I guess you're right." She looked at me. "So I guess you're graduating tomorrow."

"Yeah, I guess I am." I sighed. "Like my mom says, you can't look back, even if you're running forward with your hands slapped over your eyes."

Abbey laughed. "That's something to keep in mind."

I heard a thud, and two of the babies started crying. I looked over to the blanket and it looked like Madi and Alli had bumped heads, and they were both screaming hysterically. Emily and Brooke were already on their feet, and soon the babies were quiet again. Sometimes I wondered about what my life would be like if I had a baby. Sometimes I wondered whether I could even _have_ a baby. I mean… sure… I _should_ be able to… I guess the question was more what the baby would be like, once I had him or her.

"Daddy," Brandon said. "Why's my baby sister crying?"

Brandon had started watching Alli the second she had started crying. "Because," Sam said. "She hit her head."

"Aw, is she ok?" He asked.

"Yeah, she's ok," Sam assured him.

Brandon went back to coloring his book. They were all so adorable…

"Where are you parents Ness?" Kim asked.

"Uh…." I said. "Work."

"Where are the kids?" Jacob asked. He had taken to calling both Connor and Julia and Andrea and Zach 'the kids', even though all four of them were technically older than me.

"I have no idea," I admitted. "But I probably don't want to know where Connor and Julia are… and Zach and Andrea are probably out celebrating the end of school."

"And the rest of your family?" He asked.

"Rose and Emmett are doing adult things," I said automatically.

"Adult things?" Jacob repeated with a smile.

"Yeah, we're leaving it at that. I pretend not to know what's going on and we all like it better that way."

"I see."

"I had an idea," Leah was saying to Emily. "What if we all went camping this summer?"

"Six babies, four three-year-olds, and two five-year olds going camping; are you crazy?" Emily responded.

"Probably, but don't we pretty much live on crazy?" Leah asked.

"I'm in," Seth said.

A chorus of people agreeing to come filled the backyard.

"How about a month from today?" Leah suggested.

A few people needed to check schedules, but it seemed like a good portion of us would be able to make it. The weddings would be over by then, and they should all be back from whatever honeymoon they were taking. Abbey and Seth weren't getting married until the end of next month, so they would be back in plenty of time.

I yawned and placed my head on Jacob's shoulder. He wrapped his warm arm around my shoulders and rubbed his hand up and down my arm. I sighed, content. I breathed in Jacob's scent.

"You smell good," I told him.

He took a breath in through his nose. "You smell like vampires," he told me. I could see his nose crinkle in my mind's eye.

I guffawed. "I live with them, that's generally what happens."

"Sure, sure," he said.

I closed my eyes. I was exhausted. I wished we were already on that camping trip…

Jacob's phone was vibrating in my ear. I jumped, startling myself awake. It was much darker outside now. I was still in Jacob's backyard, the only difference was I could hear the kids in the house either asleep or watching a Disney movie.

"Sorry," Jacob muttered. He flipped his phone open. "Hello?" He answered.

I could hear my mom on the other end of Jake's phone that was almost always on speaker. "Hi," she said. "I was just calling to make sure you have my daughter, and that she's okay."

"She's okay; do you want to talk to her?"

"No, its okay," my mom said. "Can you have her home by midnight?" She sounded… happy, but sad, like having me home by midnight was bittersweet.

"Definitely," Jacob said. He seemed to think about something briefly. "Are you okay?" He asked tentatively.

She sighed. "She's graduating tomorrow, Jake."

He nodded to himself. Everyone else around the fire was quiet, listening. "She is," he agreed.

My mom laughed a little. "Wasn't I lying on that couch fighting the world for her just yesterday?"

"A little more than that, but yeah, it was just the other day…" Jacob sighed.

I looked at him. He looked happy, but like he was remembering the past. "That's what I thought," she muttered. I could hear my dad's quiet breathing even over the phone. He was holding her.

"I'll see you at midnight then, Bella," Jacob said.

"Yeah," she said. "See you."

Jacob snapped his phone shut. I took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly. "I've always been a hell raiser, haven't I?" I asked quietly.

Jacob sighed. "Yeah… you've raised quite a bit of hell… but it's never, _ever_, been your fault… it's just what you were always supposed to do."

I raised a brow. "I was always supposed to raise hell?"

"Just like your mom was always supposed to have it the hard way, just like your dad was always meant to make the hard way easier for your mom."

I blinked, and nodded. "Right…" I smiled. "I guess some of us just get lucky like that."

He smiled back at me. "I guess so."

I looked at my watch. It was nine o'clock already; Jacob had let me sleep for almost two hours. "So," I said. "About that camping trip…"

Exactly twenty-nine days later, I hopped in and slammed the door of Emmett's truck as the engine roared to life. Collin and Kaylie and Brady and Lauren had returned from their honeymoon about a week ago, after a quiet, but beautiful wedding ceremony. Every single wolf from both La Push packs was going, as well as their imprints and families if they had any.

After some serious begging and pleading with Emmett, he had agreed to let me take his jeep. I think I had got him convinced when I told him that we needed to strap the car seats in safely and the jeep was best for it. Mom was letting us take her monster of a truck as well, but Jared was driving that. We also had Joel's truck, and Seth had borrowed Grandpa Charlie's hauler that he drove when he went fishing. We had also called around with friends and family until we had found enough car space, with cars tough enough for the trip, for all of us. We were all squeezing into corners and tight spaces, but the drive wouldn't be incredibly long.

The reality of the trip had just hit me last night; we were going camping with thirty-nine people. We were bringing one eight-man tent for the seven younger wolves, a smaller four-man tent for the six older kids plus Claire (in case they needed anything), a huge twelve-man tent for the parents with younger babies, and a fairly large ten-man tent that split down the middle for Quil, Brady, Collin, Jacob, Seth, Lauren, Kaylie, Me, and Abbey. We had a whole trailer full of our tents, and bags, even though we had all packed _extremely_ light. All of our food for the four-day-weekend was secured down in the back of mom's truck.

"Hey," my dad said. I rolled down my window. "Have fun okay?"

"I will," I told him.

"Be safe," he reminded me.

I smirked the smirk that he had given me. "Of course."

I leaned out the window and kissed his cheek. He kissed the top of my head. "Miss you forever," I said lightly.

"Love you for always," he said back. He had been telling me that for as long as I could remember.

I rolled up the window and pulled out of the garage and into the sheets of rain. Jacob and I were taking the two designated cars from this house over to La Push this afternoon where we would load up and get on the road. We had done some searching and found a decent-sized, secluded campsite, a little way into the woods of Oregon. The drive would be about five hours, and we should get there about seven o'clock.

The drive was full of laughter as I expertly handled the jeep through the woods with four babies in the backseat, and Brooke and Leah up front with me. The other babies and children were somewhat dispersed amongst the other cars. We pushed our way through the last of the trees and into the open clearing right on time.

It wasn't raining or cloudy here, and the bloody pink sky above us made me feel unsafe, and a little homesick for Forks and my parent's protection, but I shook it off. It would be a dusky twilight soon enough.

The first thing we did was set up all of the tents, just in case it started to rain, because nobody wanted to get back in those warm cars. Since I had been camping and hiking before, I literally set up the two smaller tents before they even had the pegs in for one of the other tents.

Soon, it was getting late, and I helped Leah and Emily get their kids in their pajamas and make sure they were ready for bed. We had blown up about two dozen air-mattresses that could stay inside the tents for the whole weekend. No one would get much sleep if it was just the hard, slightly rocky ground beneath us. I sat inside the tent until one by one; all six of the younger kids were completely asleep. Claire was up reading by flashlight.

When I quietly zipped the tent door behind me, my watch said that it was nearing nine o'clock at night. They had gotten a decent sized fire going a few yards away, and had dragged logs and rocks and things like that over. Embry was holding both of his sleeping babies; he had Marc lying on his long legs, with his left hand on the baby's stomach, and Madi curled up in the crook of his right arm. He looked like he had definitely done this before…

Jacob was sitting on a log with room enough for me to squeeze my petite frame onto it. Joel was holding Cole, but his electric blue eyes were still wide awake as they peeked over his father's shoulder. It reminded me of a photo from when I was only a few days old. I had my head on my dad's shoulder, looking behind him, and Alice had snapped a picture. My brown eyes had been looking right at the camera, and they had been very aware.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

I sat myself down next to Jake.

"Thank-you Nessie," Rachel said.

"Oh no problem," I said. "Your kids aren't exactly devil children… And trust me, I've met the devil."

She gave me a questioning look. "Remember about a year ago when we flew to Italy to prove to the Volturi that Julia really was a vampire?" I asked her. She nodded, and seemed to understand more immediately. "Remember eight years and about six months ago when I was still _really_ young and the Volturi came to kill me?" I felt Jacob tense at my side.

She folded her arms across her chest. "I do."

"There's this girl… her name's Jane, and she has a twin brother named Alec. They think that inflicting pain upon people is fun. I heard all of my family and friends discussing it before they came. I think I was about… three or four months old. I don't know, it's the one of the sharpest memories I have of that particular time… but it's the one I wish I could forget."

"Wow," Rachel said.

"You _remember _that?" Jacob said almost immediately. His brows were lifted.

I nodded my head. "I'm pretty sure that they're what the devil looks like."

"What else do you remember?" he asked. "Like… what's the furthest thing back that you can remember?"

I closed my eyes in concentration. I sat for a very long time, thinking further and further back, remembering. "I think…" I blinked a few times. "I think I can remember _before_ I was born… faintly," I added.

"Nessie… that was a _very_ long time ago…" he muttered. The silence around the circle was deafening.

"I… guess I remember more of a feeling… not like an image... or even a sound," I said. I was peeling back the layers of my mind, trying to go as deep as I could.

"What is it that you remember?" Leah asked.

"I remember being loved," I said. I smiled a little. More things were coming back to me now that I was this far inside my own head. "I remember the first thing that I ever was… and hopefully ever will be… was loved." I continued. "I remember feeling like someone was fighting for me, even before I knew who it was."

"No way," Seth said with his usual smile.

I nodded a little unconsciously. "No… I'm pretty sure that actually happened."

There was silence except for the crackling of the fire. "Do you remember being born?" Jacob asked bluntly.

I shook my head immediately. "No… but I hear I came out fighting," I said this more brightly.

He cocked his head and straightened it. "Yeah… I'm pretty sure you did…"

"Although I do remember seeing my mom," I said.

Jake's mouth fell open. "When she was human?"

"Yeah," I said. "I'll show you."

I placed my hand on his cheek and went backward a million miles until that one faint image came through of my mom, pale and sweaty and covered in blood, with her features much less defined and her face pained, but loving. She was still beautiful in my memory.

Jacob pushed my hand away from his cheek. "I don't want to see anymore," Jacob said… and I could hear the almost shake in his voice.

"Sorry," I said.

"It's okay… it just _bothers_ me, I guess… I don't ever want to go back to that time… or that moment. Just the stuff after that."

"Okay," I said calmly. "Then we won't go back. We'll just run forward, like always."

He sighed at the same time I did, and I laid my head on his shoulder. My sensitive ears picked up the slightest movement in the kids tent, and someone started sniffling and whimpering.

"That's Kristen," Paul said. "I swear, she doesn't cry, she whimpers."

He was already on his feet and walking over to the tent. He was holding her a second later. She looked like she was shivering, but stopped fairly quickly as his warm arms wrapped around her tiny body.

"Are you cold?" He asked.

"Yeah," she whimpered.

"That's because you rolled out of your blankets," he told her softly, shushing her whimpers gently.

She laid her head on his shoulder and soon she was asleep again. He put her back in the tent and zipped it shut.

"They're all curled up next to each other," he said as he sat down again.

"Aw," Abbey said. "That's cute."

"And Claire is still awake," Paul told Quil.

He sighed. "Of course she is." He rubbed his temple with one hand. "It takes her like an hour… or more… to get to sleep every night."

"I was like that when I was little," Brooke said.

"When did you stop being like that?" Quil asked.

"When I got my period," she said calmly.

"Ewwwww," said a chorus of male voices.

"There are things in life you keep to yourself, Brooke," Quil said.

"You asked."

My cell phone rang. "Hello?" I answered.

"Hi." It was my dad. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good," I said. "How's it going back there?"

"Oh… I don't know," he sighed.

"Enjoying the privacy?" I asked, letting the sarcasm drip.

"Are we really gonna go there?"

I raised my eyebrows. "I guess not."

"What are you doing?"

"Sitting around a fire, talking about periods."

"_What_?"

"Never mind," I said. "How was work?"

"Awkward."

"And why is that?"

"Mike Newton got his wife pregnant again and since we don't have an OB/GYN, the lowest status doctor gets to do the work. The lowest status doctor is obviously me."

I guffawed. "Wow," I said. "She's been pregnant like four times in five years. Did mom come with you?"

"Yep," he said. "That's what made it so awkward. The teenage boy's mind is a bad, _bad_ place to be when you're dating the prettiest girl in school and no one likes you very much."

"You lost me," I sighed.

"Your mom was the prettiest girl in school, and no one liked me very much."

I pushed my eyebrows together. "Wait; didn't you guys have any friends in High School?"

"Mom did," he said. "But some mistakes don't die, even when the apologies are forgiven."

I pondered what he said. "You had your reasons. Reasons I don't understand, but I trust you." When he said that he would never forgive himself for leaving her, he wasn't kidding.

"Hmph," he said. "I'm glad you see it that way."

"Where's mom?"

"She's in the shower," he said. "We went hunting and there was a_ lot_ of mud."

"Sounds fun," I said.

"Oh it was, we all went…"

"Even Zach and Andrea?"

"Yep, they had fun."

I heard light footsteps in the background, and took that as my cue to hang up. "I'll talk to you later dad," I said. "I love you."

"Love you too sweetheart." He snapped his phone shut, and so did I.

Jeremy was drumming his fingers against his thigh. "You had a fast childhood," He said plainly.

I nodded my head slowly. "Yeah, I was never as innocent as I should've been."

Jacob laughed. "Yeah, you really weren't."

I smiled. "What're you thinking about?"

"Nothing."

"Lying is a sin."

He gave me a face. "If you want the real answer; I was thinking about when you asked your dad what sex was before your second birthday."

"I did what?" I said loudly.

"You seriously don't remember that?" He asked.

"No," I said. My eyes were huge. "How would I even… _why_ would I even… Oh wow… I knew things… _bad _things, didn't I Jacob?"

He was still laughing and I kept smiling. "Um, probably."

We quieted down again, seeing as most of the circle was chuckling a little. "Well what are you thinking about then?" Jacob asked.

"I'm actually trying my hardest _not _to think about what's going on at my house."

"Uh, yeah, don't think about that," he said.

Allison squirmed where she was in the crook of Sam's arm, and started crying.

"And I think that's our cue to go to bed," Emily said. Several people agreed, and we all made our way to the tents. I settled in next to Abbey, with Kaylie and Lauren at her other side. I was pressed up against the separator in the tent. I could hear the guys moving around as they pulled on more comfortable clothing and settled in.

I heard the other tents around us slowly getting ready for bed as well. The loudest of the tents was obviously the one with the younger guys in it. The babies were all sleeping, and they were trying to all lie down in that tent.

It slowly became quiet again, but I knew no one was asleep yet. Sure enough, to confirm my suspicions, Leah spoke.

"Joel?" She whispered through the dark silence. It was barely louder than a breath. I knew that I could hear her, but Abbey, who was lying right next to me, could not.

"Yeah?"

"I… um… have something to tell you." Everything was still.

"I'm listening." I heard him shift under his sleeping bag.

"Uh…" She took a deep breath. "I think I'm pregnant again."

Someone in the younger guy's tent coughed. Didn't see _that_ one coming…

"You _think_?" He finally asked.

"I'm pretty sure."

I heard him take one long deep breath in, and let it out slowly, but quietly. "That's great," he told her. "I'm happy." I could almost see him smile.

She sighed. "Me too, but this is going to hurt."

He laughed. "Yeah, that's generally what happens Leah."

She clicked her tongue… "Ugh…. Will you hold my hand?"

"Uh-huh."

"Promise?"

"Uh-huh."

"Emily?" Sam said.

"Yeah?"

"You need to tell me _right now_ if you think you're pregnant," he whispered.

"Yeah," she said very, _very_ quietly.

"That's…amazing," Sam said.

"Yeah," she said again. "Will you hold my hand?"

He laughed a little. "Uh-huh."

"Promise?"

"Uh-huh."

"What if I scream?"

"Then you scream."

"That's reassuring." She started to laugh, and Sam laughed with her.

"Leah?" Joel said.

"Yeah?"

"Are you crying?"

"Maybe," she sniffed. "I'm maybe crying."

There was silence. "How can I make you stop maybe crying?"

She sniffed again. "Tell me it'll be okay."

"It'll be okay," he said immediately.

"Mean it," she said shakily.

He was silent again. "I'll make it okay."

She clicked her tongue. "There's a difference, but I appreciate the effort." She cleared her throat and sniffed again. "I think I'm definitely pregnant, otherwise I wouldn't be crying."

"Uh, yeah," Joel agreed.

She laughed. "This is going to be a really long nine months isn't it?"

"_Oh yeah_."

"I'm sorry in advance for any comments, questions, emotional break downs, and random mood swings ahead of time."

"You're forgiven," Joel said.

One of the babies started crying. "Jared, my niece is crying," Brooke said.

"Uh-huh," Jared said, and I heard his feet hit the ground as he slid off the air mattress. The baby was hushed quickly, and quietly.

Jared lay back down, and I heard Abbey's breathing become slow and deep next to me. Soon I heard Seth and Quil's breathing patterns match hers. A baby cried again.

"Madi," Brooke said, and I heard her get on her feet. "This is going to be a _very_ long night."

And that it was.

I was the first awake in the morning, my cell phone said it was around seven-thirty am. I knew the others would be awake soon, so I just lay there until I heard slight movements on the other end of the tent. Abbey flinched next to me, and soon she was yawning, and stretching a little.

An hour later, I was out stoking the fire to cook breakfast over. I had pulled on a fresh long sleeved pink t-shirt, and had my black hiking vest zipped up around my chest. My hiking boots were laced up and the ends of my jeans were tucked into them. I had my bronze ringlets swept back into a ponytail, and some bobby pins holding my bangs out of my eyes. "I'll do that," Kaylie said, coming up behind me and gesturing to the fire. "You might want to go see if you can try to help the kids get ready though."

I climbed inside the tent, and saw that everyone was wide awake. They were all whispering to each other, and Claire was sitting up, wrapped in her sleeping bag, reading the same chapter book as the night before.

"Ness!" Kristin squealed when I came into the tent. We were going on a pretty long hike today, and it said that the course was pretty tough, but safe for kids if they had hiked before. Since every single one of these kids had been hiking for as long as they could walk, and possibly before that, we should be fine.

"Hi," I said. "Are you guys ready to get up and get going?"

"Yeah," several of them said, and immediately climbed out of their sleeping bags. "Ok," I said. How was I going to do this? "Everyone get their bags, and sit on your sleeping bag."

They got to their feet, and did as I asked, even Claire. "Now," I told them. "Everyone needs to get out their outfit for today. It should be in a plastic bag with green writing on it. Everyone find the bag with the green writing on it," I instructed.

They all searched inside their bags, and eventually, they all had the right bag out. "Good job," I said. "Now I need all of the girls to take their bags and follow Claire to my tent. Abbey is in there, and I think some of the boys are, but if you need any help Claire should be able to help you alright?"

The girls nodded. Claire led the way out of the tent, and Jenny grabbed Kristin's hand. Lexi picked up the rear, always very independent. I turned back to Nick, Brandon, and David. Nick could obviously get himself dressed, but Brandon needed help getting his arms in the right shirt sleeves. David, who was a few months younger than Brandon, got his clothes on about as far as his unbuttoned pants and backward-facing shirt. I helped him get it switched around, and they sat on the outer-edge of the tent while I helped them get their boots laced up.

As soon as I finished up with the boys, I went into the big tent with the girls. "Thank-you for helping Claire," I thanked her.

"No problem," she said. She was helping Kristin get her sweater zipped.

I went over to Jenny, who was helping Lexi get a brush through her hair. "Who needs help with their hair?" I asked.

"Me," All three of the little girls said together.

"Youngest first this time," I told them. I went to Kristin and separated her hair in a middle part. I put the short little pig-tails off her neck, so they wouldn't bother her. Next I helped Lexi, doing two quick French braids down to her shoulders. Jenny's hair was the longest, half-way down her back. I pulled it up, and twisted and tied it into a bun at the back of her crown. I pulled out a bright pink headband to match her hoodie from the tiny container of hair stuff I had brought, and put it on her head.

I turned to Claire when I was finished with Jenny, but she didn't need any help.

"Wow," I said out loud. Claire had taken her hair and braided the top of it back into a long, flowing ponytail. "That's really good, Claire."

"Thanks," she said. "I taught myself how to do that one day. I was bored, and I like people's hair, so I thought I'd try something new."

"Gosh," I said. "I wish a stroke of creative genius would hit me like that when I was bored."

Abbey had followed the little girls out, so it was just me and Claire. It was moments like these when I remembered the crazy truth; Claire was three years older than me. What would my life be like had I been… human? Would I be like Claire? No… Claire was a ten-and-a-half-year-old with an incredibly big secret she had always kept. If I had been human… I probably wouldn't even be aware of the super-natural world which my life revolved around now.

I shook my head clear of those thoughts. There was no point in what-if's. "C'mon," I said to Claire. "Let's go get breakfast."

We all shoved down a quick breakfast apart from me, and got ourselves ready for the hike. Joel had found six baby carriers at a garage sale a few towns away, and the lady had bargained with him that if he took all of them, he could have them for twenty bucks. The deal had been too good to pass up, and he had bought them.

I threw water, a few hair ties, a map, compass, snacks, and a little bit of the group lunch in my backpack, and strapped it on over my shoulders. Anyone old enough to carry stuff did the same, including Claire.

"Here we go," I said. I immediately took off in the direction of the path we would be taking, Jacob close behind me. The path sloped upward right at the beginning. This was going to be _great_…

It was exactly one hour after we had begun hiking that I first thought we were in over our heads. It was another hour later before I _knew _we were in over our heads. I stopped in my tracks, and looked at the path in front of us.

The only problem was, it wasn't a path anymore. It looked like a small river, pooling to a ferocious stop just below us. There was a cliff face leading out directly in front of us with a ledge about a foot wide just a step below us. The ledge was wide enough to walk on, but not safely. I caught my breath.

"Oh… my…" Abbey said.

I examined the cliff ledge for a moment as everyone took in what the trail had turned into. "Oh," I said. "I know how to do this."

"How?" Wyatt asked.

"Use your eyes, wolf boy," I said. I walked over to the edge of the cliff just above the ledge, and pointed upward. "Look above you." They followed the direction of my finger.

"_What is_ that?" Nathan asked.

Above us, hung one rope tightly strung across the cliff face, looping over to the other side of the water. It looped a tree, then came back toward us about seven feet lower. It was made out of tough, strong, tightly wound twine, like rock-climbing rope. The rope had about twenty hooks hanging on it, ten on the bottom part of the rope, ten on the top. A completely separate rope was strung in between them, made out of the same type of material. There was also a board the width of the creek and about a foot wide suspended about four feet below the middle rope. Hiking harnesses… I had used these with my dad once, just for fun. "Don't you see?" I asked.

"I think I do," Sam said. "The rope just runs in a big circle, right?"

"Exactly," I said. I pointed to one of the trees near us, which had all twenty harnesses hanging on it. "You put on one those harnesses, step onto the board, and hook yourself onto the bottom rope. As you walk, you pull the rope along with you, holding the rope in the middle. When you reach the other side, you get the harness off and hook it on the top rope so other people can use it."

"How did you figure _that one_ out?" Caleb asked.

I gave him a look. "When I was seven months old I ran through dense woods barefoot and took down a moose the size of an SUV. I _think_ I know how to use a hiking harness."

"Point taken."

"And it probably helps seeing as I've used one before."

"Uh, yeah, that generally tends to help you know how to do something."

"But how are we going to get the kids across?" Leah asked.

"I suppose we'll just have to separate them in between us. It's not dangerous at all if the harnesses are on correctly."

"I worked at a rock-climbing building in Seattle all through High School, and I've been climbing since I was four," Abbey said. "I _promise _that their harnesses will be on correctly."

Everyone seemed a little reluctant, but we decided to go ahead and try. Since thirty-three of us were going to actually have to wear harnesses and cross over on the plank, we decided to send Wyatt first, seeing as he was the most willing. Jenny was going to go right after me, and Nick following Kaylie, with Lauren on his other side. The three-year-olds were going to go in between every two adults, most likely their parents.

Abbey really did know what she was doing when it came to harnesses, because she had Nick and Jenny in theirs before anyone else had finished getting their own on. Once everyone in the first ten harnesses was secured, Wyatt started over. Caleb went right over next, followed by Matt. I hooked myself onto the next hook, and started walking.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

"Slowly," I said to the guys. "Jenny's getting on."

Sam hooked Jenny on and she started taking confident, but careful steps. It really wasn't that far across, I heard Wyatt's feet hit the soft-compared-to-the-plank ground. Caleb and Jeremy started moving as Matt climbed off. "Almost there Jenny," I said as I climbed off.

I helped unhook her from the rope, and unbuckled her harness. I took off my harness as well, and handed them to Wyatt, who was getting the harnesses back to the other side. Everything continued to flow smoothly. Joel stepped onto the ledge, baby strapped to his chest, following Alexis, Leah, and Lauren.

At that exact moment, Cole woke up from where he was napping on Joel's chest, crying of course. "Sh, Cole," Joel said quietly. But instead of growing quieter, he grew louder. He was screaming, actually.

"My gosh," Lucas said. "What are you doing to that kid, Joel?"

"Nothing," Joel said.

I unhooked Lexi from the rope as she stepped off, and Leah unhooked her harness, passing it to Wyatt. Joel stepped off a second later, and took the still screaming Cole out of the baby carrier, hushing him. He passed Wyatt his harness, and I stood waiting to help Brandon off of the ledge. Jacob climbed off next, grinning at me as he went past. I took Brandon's hand as soon as he was close enough, and he moved toward me.

I saw the next second in slow motion. Brandon's small foot slipped on the dirt we were standing on. He hit the ground before I had time to catch him. I heard his quiet cry, and saw his eyes fill with tears. I saw his scraped knee. But above all; I smelled the blood. The familiar burn at the back of my throat, which was so much worse for my family, filled my whole body with the deepest wanting.

I automatically pulled my hand from his, and drew back from him. Sam stepped off right behind him and immediately scooped him into his arms. I kept moving backward... hearing nothing… feeling nothing… knowing only to resist, and to get away.

Strong, hot arms wrapped around me, and my senses were shot through with a sudden burst of reality. I crashed into Jacob. "Stop," he said quietly, completely calm. He spun me around in his arms roughly, so I would face him. "Stop," he said again, more loudly this time.

My breath came out in a huff. I met his dark eyes. So… familiar. So… safe. So… comforting. I took in a deep breath, bracing myself for the smell. The others hadn't even realized I wasn't with Brandon anymore. Someone was rummaging through a first aid kit, and Brandon's soft crying had subsided. I blinked. "Okay," I told Jake softly. I brought my eyebrows together slightly. "Thanks." I said.

He squinted one eye. "Anytime."

I turned to face the rest of the people. Most of them were on this side of the ledge now, and I saw Abbey and Seth, the last ones on the ledge, starting the hike over here. I let Jacob keep his arms around me… letting him hold not only me, but my mind together. He was keeping me focused. It normally wasn't this hard for me… it was _never_ this hard for me… I had waited _way_ too long to go hunting.

I took a deep breath, and ignored any thoughts even remotely close to the burn at the back of my throat. These were the moments I felt the deepestrespect for my family. Especially my father… and Connor. It still baffled me at how they had both ended up in the position they were in now…

"That was…" I pushed my air out through pursed lips. "Not normal."

"Um…" Jacob said. "I… uh… Yeah, I got nothing."

"Thanks for trying," I offered.

"It was a pretty sad attempt."

"But an attempt none the less."

He just shook his head with an eye roll.

I sighed, and looked around. I could see the top of the small mountain that would be the peak of our hike. "We should get a move on," I said more loudly. I checked my watch. "We still have at least two hours to the top, and probably another three or four hours back."

"Yeah…" Leah said. "I really hope we don't have to do something like that," -she gestured to the hiking harnesses- "again."

"I second that hope," I said. "Let's go."

I pushed through the last of the trees and entered back into our campsite. The hike had taken _way_ longer than any of us had thought, and everyone was tired. It was already getting dark, and we were all pretty hungry. I immediately started building up the fire pit, replacing ashy stones with new ones, making sure they were secure. I filled the pit with sticks and brush, and took out my lighter. I carried this lighter around for emergencies… and in case I needed to defend myself.

The fire roared to life in front of me, and the others started getting the food out. I was taking myself hunting as soon as everyone else was eating. It wouldn't take long, just enough so I wouldn't have to go again during the trip. I slipped quietly into the woods, slipping off my boots and socks by the edge of the woods, and dropping my vest. It wasn't long before I had brought several large animals to the ground, sucking them dry. I decided to get just one more…

I picked up the scent of a white-tailed deer, my mom's favorite, and immediately took off. I pushed it down easily, and began to drink-_oops._ I felt the deer's dull teeth rip the shirt right off my back as I wrestled with it. I threw down the bloodless carcass in disgust and considered my options.

I was wearing a sports bra. That's it. Nothing else. Oh this was just _great_. I sighed. Ok… I made my way back to the campsite, and soon I could hear everyone talking. I stayed buried in the trees. Soon there were just a few branches and leaves separating me from the others.

"Ja_cob_," I hissed.

Several people stopped talking and looked around and that of course led even more people to stop talking and look around, and soon, everyone was quiet.

"Uh…. Nessie?" Jacob said tentatively.

"I'm in the trees- no! Don't look back here!" I scolded.

"Um… why not?" he asked.

"Because," I snapped. "Certain events led to certain things happening and my father would not be happy if these certain things led to other certain things happening."

He thought about that for a second. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said bluntly.

"I got my shirt ripped off!" I said just as bluntly.

Someone snickered, and I thought it was Leah. I heard someone getting up from a log, and by the weight of the steps it sounded like a girl. I peeked out from behind the tree, and saw Leah walking toward me, yanking off her zip-up as she went.

"Here," she said, handing it to me.

"Thank-you," I said gratefully.

"Yeah, well, that happened to me once," she clicked her tongue. "But mine was torn off by a tree, not a wild animal."

"When was this?" I asked curiously as we walked back to the fire circle.

"Before you were born."

I thought about that. "So… what did you do?"

"You have no idea how fast I can run at three in the morning," she said plainly.

I laughed. "Three am? Wow…"

"Oh yeah, wow is definitely what I would say."

I sat down next to Jacob as soon as we came through the last few trees.

"Does that happen often?" Jacob asked with a smirk on his face.

"Not as much as it used to," I told him. I nodded gravely, but he knew I was being sarcastic. "It's an art, and arts take practice."

"I see."

I laid my head on his shoulder and yawned. He yawned too. "I'm tired," I said obviously.

"So Ness, are you thinking about college?" Joel asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I suppose," I said. "But there are only a few colleges I could _really_ go to. I mean; I can be in the sun… but people would definitely notice something, eventually. And… you know I'm only eight years old. I don't even know if I'm confident enough in my… abilities to be away from my parents, and my family for a long period of time. My options aren't exactly open."

He nodded. "I get what you're saying," he told me. "It's a reasonable consideration."

Leah was, at the moment, trying to feed Cole, who was fussing mercilessly. "Come on, really?" Leah moaned. "I don't know why he's not latching on," she said, completely frustrated.

I considered what she was saying, but Abbey got there first. "You're pregnant again aren't you?"

"I think so," Leah said. "What does that have to do with it?"

"I don't know the physical reason for it, but most babies won't nurse off a pregnant mom for long."

"Oh…" Leah said. "That… makes sense." Leah pulled him out from under her shirt. "Back to the bottle for you little boy."

Nick and Jenny were practicing their reading with each other, and the younger kids were already getting sleepy, lying down on their parents laps. Joel was systematically stroking Lexi's hair as she dosed off.

I sighed. It was moments like these when I wondered about my life if I had baby._ Our_ life if _we _had a baby. It would be so… different. So… permanent. Once you had a baby, there was no going back. And when that baby was one-of-a-kind… so many questions it would have. So many questions _I_ would have. I knew the feeling well, of not having a place in the world. Did I really want that for someone else? Did I really care enough to consciously think about the possibility of reproducing if we had sex?

No matter how selfish it sounded… I wanted Jacob more than anything in the whole world. Even more than human blood, I wanted Jacob. I slowed myself down._ I_ had already decided that no matter what, Jacob and I would wait to have sex until we were married. No questions about it. There were just too many things that could happen after you have sex… Pregnancy at the top of that list. What would've happened if my parents hadn't waited until they were married? Or if any of the people here hadn't waited, as a matter-of-fact.

I looked up at Jacob. He was staring at me. "What are you think about?" he asked.

I considered what I wanted to tell him. "Possibilities," I said.

"Possibilities of what?"

"Now that," I said. "Is for me to know and you to find out."

"That's _no fun_," he said.

I smiled at him. "Sorry," I said. "But that's all you're getting."

My cell phone buzzed in my pocket. I grabbed it and flipped it open without bothering to check the number.

"Hello?" I said.

"Renesmee," My mother's voice rang through the phone.

"Mom?" I said. I didn't recognize the tone in her voice.

"Listen to me carefully sweetheart," she said, and her voice sounded sad.

"Mommy what happened?" I asked her.

She sighed. "The Denali's got into a fight with another vampire coven." She didn't let me comment. "More like attacked, actually."

My breath caught in my throat. "Oh my…" I let it out quickly. "Are they okay? Oh my gosh… is… did anyone get k-"

"No one got killed," she cut me off. "But every single one of them was bit at least once. Tanya was bit ten times actually, trying to defend Andrew." She let out another sigh. "We're going up there, sweetie, they need us."

"Oh yeah, of course…" was all I could muster.

"I don't know how long we'll all be up there, but we took off work all week," she explained. "If we're not back when you guys get home, you can either stay at our house, or go with Jacob if he'll take you."

"Right," I said, and my lips curved upward slightly. "I don't think he'll have a problem with that."

"Ha ha," she said. "I love you Nessie."

"I love you too mom, let me know how they're doing."

"I will," she promised, and we hung up with each other. I put my face in my hands as I let out a shaky breath. I felt the tears in my eyes, but no sounds came from my lips. Why, why, _why_ did some vampires have to be so violent? And mean? There was just no point to it.

Since most of the people had heard the conversation I had just had over the phone, the circle was pretty silent. Jacob had his arms around me, and I knew it wouldn't be long before he realized I was crying. Sure enough, he said, "Sh, Nessie, please, _please _don't cry."

"I'm not crying," I said calmly, with my face still buried in my hands. "Not really anyway."

He sighed. "I'm sorry," he told me.

"Me too," I muttered. We were silent for a little while longer. "I just don't understand how some vampires can be _so cruel_, and harsh, and others are the best friends in the world."

"It's just like with any species," he told me. "Some are nice, some aren't."

I sighed. "I suppose you're right," I told him. I opened my eyes and pulled my face out of my hands but kept it leaning on them. "It could've gone _so_ differently," I said. "My family could be going up there to grieve with them, not to take care of them." I shook my head. "Or that could've been a phone call telling me someone in my family was dead, or that my dad was a pile of ashes, or my mom was scattered somewhere in the woods."

"No, Ness," Jacob said. "You can't think like that." He took a deep breath. "We could spend our whole life worrying about what _could_ happen, or we could just spend it thinking and living in the here, and the now."

I squinted my eyebrows together and gave him a look. "Have you met my aunt? Her name is Alice."

He clicked his tongue. "Nice," he said.

I wiped the small tears off my cheeks with the back of my hand. "Well," I said. "Don't you think she spends most of her life worrying about the future? Or focusing on it at the very least?"

"Probably," he said. He thought about that for a moment. "I don't pretend to understand what it's like to see the future, or do any of that other crazy stuff your family can do, but I do know a thing or two about reading minds. All I can say is; you have to own what's yours. You have to know what belongs to you, and what's important to you… I guess it's probably the same way for any of the other talents your family has. You have to know_ your_ present, know _your _feelings, know _your_ mind, know _your _thoughts-"

"And know what to keep and what to share," I finished for him. I smiled. "Like it probably wouldn't be a good idea to show my parents where we were and what we were doing when they worked the nightshift last weekend."

"You mean when you were 'sleeping'?" He asked.

"Yeah," I said. "When I was 'sleeping'." I even added the finger quotes.

He laughed. "That was a fun night," he said.

"Just don't think about it around my dad."

He cocked his head. "Does he like, stalk you in your thoughts?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "He's actually really good at ignoring my thoughts, because really, what kind of father wants to be in his daughters head? Sometimes certain thoughts of mine pop out at him when he's not paying attention to what he's doing though," I added.

"I see," he said.

"But he usually doesn't make a special effort to ignore other people's thoughts. He doesn't like, pick through your mind or anything, but if you're thinking very openly about something you don't want him to know, he'll know about it."

"Right," Jacob said, dragging out the word. "I've become oddly used to guarding my mind around him, but I'm sure I've slipped up at some point."

"My family doesn't try, generally, to keep their thoughts from him," I explained. "It's just not conventional. We literally know _everything_ about each other. Or at least, they do." I smiled. "I'm slightly out of the loop, second generation." I held up two fingers. "But trust me, I like it that way."

He laughed. "I'm sure you do." He smiled and wrapped his arms around me again. "I love you."

I sighed. "I know."

"Gosh you sound like your mom," Seth said.

"I know," I repeated myself. "Yeah, yeah, I get it all the time. 'You look just like your parents, your mom's eyes, your dad's hair and face.'" I rolled my eyes. "I've got it people; I know I'm like them."

"No, no, no," The voice came from behind me, and I about jumped out of my skin when Connor and Julia came strolling through the trees. "You're better than them," Connor said.

My mouth fell open. "What are you guys doing here?" I asked, totally surprised.

"Well," Julia said. "It's a long story, but we were about one hundred miles northeast of here hunting. A herd of deer and some large eagles started chasing us. I think they were trying to…protect themselves, somehow. Animals normally wouldn't act like that… but animals normally aren't hunted by vampires. I don't know what was going on, but whatever. Anyways, we decided to have some fun and let them, for a while." Her face dropped. "Then your mom called, and, well, this is the fastest way to Denali."

"Right," I said, nodding solemnly. It was quiet for a second. "What did you mean by I'm better than my parents, Connor?"

He shook his head. "They say it all the time. You forgive more easily than they do, and you've dealt with their decisions your whole life, no matter what they meant to you."

"Yeah…" I said, trailing off. "But it's not like I do it on purpose… They've seen more than me, especially my dad…. They're less innocent than I am."

"Perhaps," Connor said. He looked at Julia. "We should get going, all hands on deck," he said.

"Tell the Denali's I said hi," I told them.

"Of course," Julia said.

And off they ran. "Well that was unexpected," I said, turning back toward the circle and sinking back into Jacob's arms.

"Those two…" Leah said, trailing off.

"Are exactly what my parents would've been if I hadn't happened," I finished.

I felt Jacob shift his weight underneath me. "You know they don't regret ever having you, right?" He asked tentatively.

"I know," I said. "But… a lot of stuff happened before I was born… a lot of stuff people regret."

"Everyone has regrets about something," Jacob said a minute later. "But sometimes you've just got to move on."

"Live your life today in the pretense of having no regrets tomorrow," I quoted. "Somebody told me that once… Probably my dad. He's got all sorts of lines like that."

Several people laughed. I yawned and the circle turned into several smaller conversations. Leah, Sam, Jared, and Rachel all got up to put their bigger kids to bed. I looked at my watch; it was late for the kids, nearing ten o'clock. At least they would all be able to fall asleep fast tonight. Claire was going to bed with them, but was bringing her book and flashlight so she wouldn't just have to lay there.

Brooke and Embry had quickly become used to having two babies in the house. They seemed like they had the parenting down to a rhythm actually. Embry held Madi, Brooke held Marc. Without speaking or even really looking at each other, they switched babies and continued their conversations. One baby started to cry, both parents immediately reacted. It was interesting to watch.

"I wish I had a piano," I said randomly.

"That is a very weird thing to wish for," Jeremy said.

"It's just what came to my mind," I said. "This is a moment that makes me want to write a song."

"How old were you when you wrote your first song?" Abbey asked.

"Um…" I said. "Probably… about… two or three months. I don't know. My dad used to sit me on his lap and let me play as many keys as I wanted, as long as I wanted. " I smiled to myself. "They aren't kidding when they tell you he's been wrapped around my finger since the day I was born. That piano… that piano was _his _piano. _Nobody_ touched that piano without asking." I raised and dropped my brows. "He could tell you when I wrote my first song… and probably play it for you."

"You took the phrase 'daddy's little girl' to a whole new level," Seth said.

"I used to have to fight him… and your mom, just so I could actually hold you," Jacob said.

I laughed. "I can believe that." I nodded to myself. "I'm thinking of maybe asking Julia to teach me how to play guitar as well… I think it's good to be a well-rounded musician. Julia can sing and write lyrics… and my dad is the best piano player I've ever heard. I'm pretty sure he writes lyrics in his head, but I don't think anybody's ever heard them. My mom might have…"

"I think that's a good idea," Jacob said. "If I had the brains or the effort in me I'd learn how to play an instrument too."

"Well maybe she'll teach both of us," I said. "Or she could teach me, and I could teach you."

"Maybe," Jacob said. They had finally got all the kids laid down, and the adults were stepping out of the tent. I could hear the deep, slow, breathing of the younger kids, and could hear Nick and Jenny whispering to each other.

Paul was trying to rock Joshua back to sleep, who was crying mercilessly. "Here," Rachel said. "I'll take him, he's probably hungry." Paul gently shifted Josh smoothly into Rachel's arms. I closed my eyes as I leaned into Jacob and felt his heat cloud around me. Kyle, Caleb, Nathan, Wyatt, Jeremy, Matt, and Lucas were all playing a card game I recognized, but couldn't remember the name of.

"Ok," I said finally. "Am I the only one who's completely exhausted?"

"No," most of the circle said at the same time.

"O-kay, then," I said. "I'm going to bed." As soon as I took the initiative to finally stand up and leave, everyone followed. Paul doused the fire, and we were thrown into blackness. I looked up at the moonless sky, and saw that the cloudy night looked stormy. Almost unnaturally cloudy, and that was coming from a girl who'd lived in Forks her whole life. I could still see of course, but flicked on a flashlight anyway. We made our way to the tents, turning on lanterns as we climbed in. We were getting faster at changing for bed, and were all soon lying down.

I tried to sleep, expecting it to come easily. It wasn't long before I realized it wouldn't. I don't know what made me do it… maybe it was the darkness, or the thin tent wall separating us so that I couldn't see his face…

"Jacob?" I whispered through the inky night.

"Yes?" He whispered back.

I went with what I was feeling, and not what I was thinking. "What if… what if I can't have babies?" The silence that rolled through the campsite was deafening.

I heard him take a deep breath and let it out slowly, and quietly. "Are we really having this conversation?" He asked in a whisper.

"Yeah," I said. "We need… I think it needs to be done."

He took another deep breath. "Okay…" he said, letting his air out. "If you can't have babies… then you can't have babies. It's just a fact of life that we have to live with." He took in another breath. "But Ness…," his voice got quieter. "I _need_ to know… one way or the other."

I closed my eyes, and blinked hard. How did I answer him? "Okay," I said. "Let's just say you get me pregnant. Don't think about me, think about the kind of life the baby we created would have. Quarter-vampire, quarter-human, and throw a wolf-gene in there to top it off? One-of-a-kind doesn't cover it."

Jacob was thinking about what I had said. "You don't want what you had for another person," he muttered. It wasn't a question.

"You know… never once have I blamed my parents. I don't _regret _a single choice they ever made. But… I have questioned it. My very existence makes me a freak-of-nature, something that was never supposed to be. Would you want that for your child? _Our _child?"

Silence again. "So what you're saying is… If we had a baby… it might not get the life it deserved?"

"Yeah," I said quietly.

"Answer my question, Nessie."

I took a deep breath. "The truth…" I let my air out. "Yes… in theory, I could have a baby." I closed my eyes. "Well, _your_ baby," I said more quietly.

Jacob was silent. Every conscious ear in the campsite was on us. The tears slowly came to my eyes, and poured out. I made no sound, but I couldn't fool Jacob. The first crash of thunder clapped overhead of us and lightning lit up the campsite for one split second.

"Why are you crying, sweetheart?" Jacob asked.

"Because," I said, sniffing. The tears were in my voice before I knew it. "Because… you deserve more than this. More than me. You could get any girl you wanted pregnant, without all these complications." I was close to hysterics. "Just like all vampires deserve more than the cards they were dealt. Just like Rosalie, or Alice, or Esme, or _my mom_ should be able to have babies. And why Emmett, or Jasper, or Carlisle, or _my dad_ deserve to be fathers." I took a few quick breaths. "It's not fair."

"How…" Jacob said. "Why… would you say I deserve more than you? Someone who's done the things I've done? Someone like me deserves something much, _much_ less than you, if anything at all. Don't you see that?"

"You deserve to be a father," I said, and my voice was no longer a whisper.

"Maybe," Jacob said. "Maybe I deserve that. But let me tell you this; if it's not with you, it's not with anyone. If I don't deserve to be the father of _your_ babies, I don't deserve to be the father of anyone's."

His compassion broke my heart. "We could go back and forth all night," I said calmly. "But there's no point. Sometimes… people love each other too much to agree on some things." I took a deep, slow breath. "So let's just promise that for tonight. I love you Jacob."

"I love you, Nessie." And that was all I needed to drift to sleep with.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

I awoke with a start, bolting upright. The wind was absolutely howling, and my phone was vibrating by my pillow where I had left it. I grabbed it and flipped it open. "Hello?" I answered it immediately.

"Nessie!" My father's voice got my attention fast. "Listen to me Renesmee, there is a tornado heading right toward the area you guys are camping in!"

A tornado, did he say? That was impossible. "A tornado?" I quickly rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. Tornadoes were _very _rare in Oregon. I remembered how the night had looked unnaturally cloudy, and the storm that had rolled in right before we went to bed.

"Yes, Nessie," my dad said. "Get yourself to the lowest point around and get down. Cover you heads, and just wait it out. Stay calm sweetie, but you guys have got to move!"

"Okay, I'll call you when I can!"

I snapped my phone shut and shoved it in the pocket of the hoodie I was sleeping in. I immediately started waking people up. Thunder clapped over head. "Abbey!" I said loudly. "Get up, a tornado is coming." She immediately woke up confused, but understood quickly as I woke up the rest of the tent. I ran out of the tent and into one of the hardest rains I had ever seen to get the other adults up, and Jacob ran to get the kids right behind me.

"Emily! Paul! Brooke! Jared! Leah!" I yelled as I unzipped their tent. "Get up, there's a tornado coming!" Several heads snapped up and I repeated myself until they were moving. Sam jumped up to help with the older kids and Seth already had the younger guys grabbing survival gear. They had flashlights, blankets, water bottles, and were just throwing it all into backpacks, working together without words.

I jumped inside the little kid's tent and scooped up David, wrapping him in his sleeping bag. Abbey had Kristen, and Kaylie and Lauren had grabbed Brandon and Lexi. Sam was getting Nick and Jenny awake and grabbing their blankets. I shoved a few more water bottles into a backpack I had picked up off the little kids tent floor and we all ran after Joel into a lower valley that I had seen while hunting. The rain was piercing cold, and soon turned into hail that hit my stony arms aggressively.

We got as far down as we could, and I immediately began helping the kids. Someone had spread a blanket on the ground, and was having all the kids lay down on it. They willingly obeyed, some crying, some in too much shock to do anything. I located Claire, and pushed her down with them.

"Make sure they stay here!" I yelled at her over the storm. She nodded, and I threw a blanket over all the kids to protect them somewhat from falling debris. I saw Claire's flashlight flick on and she began comforting the children and forcing them to lie down and keep the blanket over their heads.

I looked around me. Surrounding us, like a brick wall, were all of the wolves. They had their arms around each other, creating a full circle around us. They were on their knees, one right next to the other. Emily, Rachel, and Kim were each holding two babies. One of their own, and one whose parents were wolves. I held my arms out, and Rachel gently handed me a screaming Madi. I held her to me, and rocked her gently. "Hush," I whispered, and I knew she couldn't hear me, but she quieted anyway. Abbey had grabbed Marc from Kim, and now Emily was the only one left holding two babies.

I started passing the blankets around with my other hand. Inside this circle of heat it was very warm, but the hail was falling harder, and a blanket would protect their heads somewhat. I'd be okay; I just had to make sure I kept Madi held to my chest. I threw a blanket over top of Emily, seeing as her hands were full at the moment. As soon as everyone in the circle had a blanket over their heads, I knelt down by the lumpy blanket that was the kids.

All of them were crying now, and the younger kids were absolutely wailing. Claire was being as brave as ever, trying to soothe Nick and Jenny first. Brandon was on the end of the blanket, crying his eyes out. "Hush, Brandon," I said calmly, leaning close to his ear. He quieted a little, and I tried talking to him. Claire had succeeded in calming Jenny and Nick, and had moved on to Lexi.

"Sh," I said, reaching my hand under the blanket. I stroked his back, and felt around for Jenny. I first brushed her hair out of her eyes and off her neck, and put her arm around Brandon's shoulders. "There," I talked in their ears. "Sissy's here, Brandon," I told him.

I pulled the blanket back over their heads, and smoothed it by their feet. Still cradling a now sleeping Madi in my warm arms, I moved up to David and Kristen, who were still sobbing. The wind tore at my face, and screamed in my ears. The hail was a steady golf ball sized downfall. I brushed Kristin's hair back first, like I did with Jenny, and rubbed her back, talking to her until she quieted. David quieted almost as soon as Kristin did; they were feeding off each other's calm.

I looked above me, and saw a sky so dark, it felt like it was sucking the light right out of the world. The flashlights we had were the only light anywhere. I saw the funnel cloud, in the distance, heading right at us. I heard a sound like a freight train. "Claire, lay down!" I yelled. She squeezed herself in between Kristin and David, and I saw Emily, Rachel, Kim, and Abbey press themselves low over the babies. The wolves had their heads bowed, and I keeled over Madi.

For the longest minute of my life, the tornado raged above us. Sam threw out an arm to stop a flying branch from nailing one of us, as we were pelted mercilessly by wind, small rocks, hail, and the occasional piece of flying debris. I smelled the blood and knew that a shard of rock, or something had cut somebody, but I refused to move from my protective pose over Madi.

She was sleeping soundly pressed just below my chest, and seemed very content. I finally looked up to see what was happening, and saw that not only was one person bleeding, most of the woman holding babies were cut up somewhere. The kids, thank god, seemed alright, if not a little bit scared where they lay under their blanket.

Emily had nicks and cuts all over her legs where the blanket wasn't covering, but she wouldn't move from where she lay, sheltering Cole and Alli. Rachel had one long cut across her shoulders, where something so sharp had gone through her t-shirt and pierced her skin. Kim was covered in scratches all over her arms and legs. Abbey was the worst. She had a huge cut across her back, and one that had pierced her side. She had another fairly large cut on her left leg, where her pajama pants had one leg that was shredded. Before I could imagine what kind of flying debris could've possibly cut her like that without her making a noise, I got smacked on the back of the head with what felt like a small boulder.

"Sorry, Ness!"Wyatt yelled behind me. He probably had tried to stop it and missed.

"It's fine!" I screamed back. I shook my head to clear away the dull throb. I knew it was ending when the sound level began to die.

The wind was still howling, and whipping at us, but it was slowly fading into the background. The black night was still pitch black, but it was lightening slightly as the black clouds moved away. The quiet sniffles coming from under the blanket were becoming clearer as the other sounds died away. I looked around me. The wolves had remained stoic throughout the tornado, and their only movements where their chests going up and down as they breathed.

"I think it's over," I whispered out loud.

"So do I," Sam said. "The sky is clearing."

We all came up cautiously from our protective positions. Several of us holding babies winced; Abbey actually didn't get all the way up. Their muscles were sore from being pelted with rocks, and from holding the babies in such a cramped position. I jumped up to help Abbey, but first took Marc with my other hand, and gave both him and his sister to Brooke and Embry.

I gently put my hand on Abbey's shoulder. She winced. "Are you okay?" I asked her.

"Sure," Abbey said.

"Tell me what hurts," Seth said immediately.

She winced again. "Other than the cuts, my head is pretty sore from where that rock hit me. And I'm just sore from being hunched over so long."

"We need to look at those cuts," I told her.

"They're fine," she said.

"Abbey, I can smell the blood, it's pouring out of you. How deep are they?"

"Pretty deep," she admitted.

"Which one hurts the most?" I asked.

"The one on my side."

I looked more closely at it. What I saw made my throat burn and my stomach roll at the same time. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Oh… my," I said.

Jacob was at my side. "Lay down on your other side Abbey," he told her.

Seth helped her gently roll onto her other side, and gasped when he saw the cut. Not only was the cut fairly deep, it was completely covered in dirt, with pebbles and a few tiny shards of broken glass stuck in it.

"I take that it looks about as bad as it feels," Abbey muttered.

"Yeah," I muttered.

Wyatt held a flashlight over the wound, throwing it in to ever more gory detail. "Call your parents," Jacob said. "Tell them we're okay, but we don't know what to do."

I pulled out my phone. My dad answered half-way through the first ring.

"Hey," I said. "We're okay, but we don't know what to do." Jacob smirked a little at my complete copying of his words.

"Is anyone hurt?" He asked immediately.

"Yeah," I said. "Abbey is the worst-"

"Stop," he cut me off. "Have someone cover her ears, if she hears what's wrong with her it might cause her to panic."

I put my hand on Seth's face and showed him an image of his hands over Abbey's ears and him making her stay calm. He nodded and did what I showed him.

"Ok," I said. "She has a long gash across her back, her leg is pretty cut up, she got hit on the head with a rock, and she has a fairly deep gash in her side that has pebbles and little shards of glass in it."

I heard him swear. "Do you have a first aid kit?"

Someone had already passed one over, and I saw a few of the guys walking back up to see what was left of the camp. "Yes," I told him. "A pretty big one."

"Okay, clean up the area around her side, make sure you're gentle," he said. "And if you can, give her an icepack for her head."

I rummaged through the large first aid kit and found a shake-and-freeze ice pack and a whole box of sterilizer wipes. I handed Jacob the ice pack and he started to shake it. I pulled free a wipe and started to gently trace it around the edge of the cut, cleaning off the blood and mud surrounding it. She winced as the alcohol stung her, and Seth soothed her quietly.

"Ok," I said a minute later into the phone. "Now what?"

"Do you have tweezers?"

I poked through the first aid kit and pulled out a pair. "Yes," I told him.

"Pull out the largest pieces first, and try to keep her calm. Tell me when all of the pieces are out."

I immediately pulled out three large pieces with only a few winces from Abbey. The smaller pieces were a little harder, but I got them out quickly enough. "How are you doing Abbey?" I asked her more loudly so she could hear me through Seth's hands.

"Just dandy," she muttered.

"Right," I said to myself. "Okay, I'm done dad."

"Clean off the area again and press gauze on it gently to and try to get the blood flow to stop," he instructed.

I did as he told me, and soon the blood flow was slowing. "The blood flow is slowing," I reported to my father. I was always one to speak my thoughts…

"Okay make Jacob hold the gauze there and move down to her leg."

"'Kay. Jacob, hold this here." Jacob moved to take my spot. "Okay, I'm at her leg."

Slowly, my dad talked me through cleaning off her leg and wrapping it in gauze. I put one last piece of medical tape on her leg, and moved back up to Jacob.

"Okay, her side isn't bleeding anymore, but I don't know how to bandage something like that," I admitted through the phone.

"Look through your first aid kit for something called medi-wrap. Do you have it?"

"Yes," I told him a minute later. "

"Put it on the wound and wrap it all the way around her waist and back. It'll stick to itself if you put pressure on it."

I did as he told me, and Abbey sighed as I sealed it closed. "That feels a lot better," she told me.

"There's medicine in the wrap," my dad explained.

"What should I do for her back?" I asked.

"Clean it, and if it's not too deep, just take the biggest band aids you have and lay the gauzy parts over the cut."

I cleaned the cut, and it thankfully wasn't that deep. "Okay, I think Abbey's good," I told my dad.

"Try to get her to get some sleep," he told me. "If the tents are still up, put her in there. It's probably pretty cold out there. Make sure you keep her body temperature up."

"Okay," I said. "Seth go sleep with Abbey."

"_What?_" they both said at the same time.

My dad and I cracked up. "No seriously," I said. "She has to sleep, and stay warm. If the tents are still up, take her into one of those."

I said good- bye to my dad and promised to call him soon.

"The tents are still up," Caleb reported. "Actually, the tornado missed the campsite, there's just a lot of debris around it. The cars didn't even get damaged very much I don't think."

"That's good," I said. I yawned. "If everybody is okay, I think we should go back to bed."

"I second that thought," Lauren said.

Leah and Joel were sitting together holding their kids who had drifted back to sleep in the comfort of their parent's arms. Emily and Sam were sitting in a similar position, but Emily was holding Alli to her gingerly, because she was so sore.

"Yeah," Jared said. "Definitely."

We all got up and slowly made our way back up the hill that we had sprinted down so quickly earlier. I took Nick from Leah so she could hold Cole more easily. Jacob was already holding Jenny. Those two had bonded from the beginning…

Most of the blankets were dirty, but we had brought extra sheets and thick comforters just in case we needed them. I folded up all of the dirty blankets, and got the others back to their original positions in the kid's tent. Claire was sitting with Quil. She had been calm throughout the tornado, but was pretty traumatized. I helped get all the kids asleep in their make shift beds, and then moved over to our tent that was pretty tore up as well. Lauren and Kaylie had our side pretty much fixed by the time I got inside it, and Collin and Brady had their side pretty much fixed as well.

Seth brought a sleeping Abbey into the tent, and he laid down with her in what had formerly been Lauren and Kaylie's spot. He fell asleep a second later with his arms wrapped around her. "So that's how it's going to be," Kaylie commented in my ear, giggling.

I held back my own giggle, and let it out as a sigh. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," I said. I laid down next to Abbey, and Jacob rolled over from where he was lying until he was next to me.

Kaylie giggled. "O-kay," she said. "Be safe."

"Oh, pft," I waved her away. "We're covered."

Everyone cracked up at our very…. _sexual_… jokes.

"Sam!" Jacob half-yelled. "We're going to have sex!"

"_Don't tell me this_!" Sam yelled back.

"You told me when I was sixteen to tell you if I was ever going to do something stupid, reckless, or life changing so you could stop me!" Jacob reminded him.

"_That was when you were sixteen_!" Sam yelled. "And there were only like, what? Five of us, maybe? I think the situation might have changed a little bit."

"Well I didn't know that!"

"Now you do! Don't be stupid Jacob Black. Life doesn't usually give second chances."

"There's nothing 'usually' about my life!" I yelled. "Or actually, there's nothing 'usually' about any of our lives!"

"Fine," Sam said. "Suit yourselves."

"Ow, Ness that was my leg!" Jacob groaned.

"Sorry," I whispered. I had accidently kicked him.

Seth's eyes flew open, and Abbey stirred. We were waking them up.

"Me and Claire are sleeping outside tonight," Quil said. "I'm not going in there and you can't make me!"

"Why can't we go in there?" I heard Claire ask sweetly.

"Because there having a friking orgy," he said calmly.

"What's that?"

"Um… I'll tell you when you're older, go back to sleep sweetheart."

"Oh my gosh," Jacob said.

"What?" I asked.

It took him a second to answer. "I don't know," he said. "I guess… I just never thought that when I was sixteen spending like twelve hours a day under a car that'd I'd be here now. I mean… my god, me, and Quil, and Embry were like inseparable."

"True that," Embry said. "Now I have twins, you're having sex, and Quil is sleeping outside."

Jacob cracked up. "I always knew Quil would be the one to end up under the stars."

"Oh yeah," Embry said. "You were never right in the head Quil."

"Guys!" Jared said. "It's like four in the morning and we were just hit by a tornado! Can we please go to sleep?"

"No," I said insistently. "We're having sex."

"Then have sex!" Jared said.

"Don't you dare Seth Clearwater!" Leah said. "There are certain things that I can't handle in life and you having sex within a one mile radius of me is one of them!"

"No one said _we_ were having sex," Seth said quietly.

I closed my eyes. Of _course_ I was just kidding around… but the idea was there now… very much at the front of my mind.

I sighed. "I was _just kidding_." I said confidently. "Apparently I'm not very good at sarcasm."

"Ah, you're just tired," Jacob said with a yawn. "I picked up on the sarcasm."

"Of course you did," I said. "You know I'm more responsible than that."

"Mm, but I'm not," Jacob said confidently.

"Then I guess I'll have to be responsible enough for both us."

"Or you could not be," he said with a little smile.

I choked on my air as it went through my windpipe. "_Wow,_ Jacob. _Really_? Oh please, do you know what would happen if we had sex?"

"Something very big and probably very bad… and I'm not just talking about your dad's reaction."

"What if I don't care about my dad's reaction?" I asked him.

"Oh, ho, ho," Jacob said. "Daddy's little girl's all grown up?"

"Mmhm," I said. "My dad…I know this is weird, but he was like my best friend when I was little. I don't think there are many father-daughter relationships like that." I thought about what I had said. "Maybe best friend is a little extreme… you were my best friend. But security blanket, and source of comfort? Oh yeah."

"What was your relationship with your mom like?" Jacob asked. "I mean… from your point-of-view?"

"My mom…" I said. "Well… she was always the one who was on my side… even when I was wrong. She always taught me that anyone has a fighting chance at anything… as long as some one's _really _willing to fight for it."

"She fought hard for you Ness. She fought a lot of people she loved _really_ hard for you," Jacob said.

"Yeah…" I sighed. "I know. She fought hard for my dad too… Julia fought hard for Connor… Rose fought pretty hard for Emmett too… Wow…" I said. "I guess we all fight hard for a lot of things… for a lot of reasons."

"Mmhm…" Jacob said. He was falling asleep with his hot arms around my warm body.

"I love you," I whispered.

"I love you too."

With his arms around me, my head on his chest, we fell back into a well-deserved dreamland.

I woke up to a peaceful quiet. No one stirred, the only sound was the in and out of all the people sleeping around me. I could feel Jacob's heartbeat on my cheek. The terrible storm from last night could've never happened compared to the gentle breeze that blew outside now. The physical proof, like debris, would still be there I'm sure, but I didn't want to think about that now. I breathed in Jacob's warmth and pressed my lips to his chest.

He stirred in his sleep, and his eyes opened lazily. He smiled at me. "Good morning beautiful," he whispered.

My lips curved upward. "Of course it is," I breathed. "You're here."

"Hmm," he sighed. "Are we the only ones awake?"

"I think so," I told him. I blinked my eyes. "We go home tonight," I whispered more quietly.

"Yeah," he said. "Back into the real world."

"Hmph," I said. "I don't think that the world we live in counts as real," I reminded him.

"Oh, I don't know," he whispered. "It's pretty real for me."

"What are we doing today?" I asked him a minute later.

"Oh I don't know," he repeated. And with one quick, fluid motion, he got to his feet, pulling me with him. "But there's at least one thing I'd like to do."

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He dropped to one knee, and my world stopped spinning. He pulled out a little black box from his back sweatpants pocket, and popped open the top with one thumb. In the box was a simple, but stunning gold wedding ring. But what was in the box couldn't have mattered less. My breath caught in my throat.

"Please," Jacob said. "Please, please, _please_," he repeated himself. "Will you do me the honor of marrying me, Renesmee Carlie?"

My mouth fell open slightly, and I smiled. I knew my answer, and I knew my future. "Jacob Black," I said. "Yes, yes, YES! I will marry you!" I told him, still speaking in low tones.

"Yes!" he said. "YES!" he yelled. And I fell into his arms.

He fell back onto the ground when my weight hit him, and the others in our tent woke up sleepily.

"What's going on?" Seth asked, very confused.

"I… she… we…" Jacob choked out in between hysterical laughs. I had tears running down my face, either from laughing or from happiness… I wasn't sure. Kaylie, Collin, Brady, and Lauren were all filing into our side of the tent to see what all the noise was about.

Jacob held out the box and immediately they responded with gasps and 'Oh!'' s.

"I…" I gasped. "I said yes!"

"Of course you did!" Abbey said.

I fell backward through my hysterics onto Jacob until we were flat on the ground, and our laughs slowly stopped. Jacob took my hand in his warm ones, and placed the stunning ring on my finger. He whispered something fluid and intoxicating in my ear and my heart melted into his. "Kwop kilawtley," it sounded like.

Seth wolf whistled, seeing as he understood the Quileute Jacob had just whispered. I had no idea what it meant in my head of course, but my heart understood perfectly.

"Oh," I sighed as the last of our sudden burst of energy subsided. A thought occurred to me. "Oh… boy. Uh…" I looked at Jacob. "How the hell are we going to tell my parents about this?"


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

He smiled a toothless grin at me. "I don't think it will be very hard," he promised. I gave him a questioning look. "I asked both of your parents… separately… if I could ask you to marry me a couple of days before we left on this trip."

"You did?" I said, shocked. "What did they say?"

"Your mom wouldn't look at me when she said, 'You can have my baby… as long as she wants you.' She started crying when I left, but she doesn't know I heard her."

I nodded my head. "And my dad?"

Jacob took a deep breath and shook his head with wide eyes. "That was terrifying." He sighed. "But it turned out a lot better than I expected. He crossed his arms and looked at me for a while, and I knew he was looking right through my face into my head, and I just let him. He was silent for the longest time and said, 'I suppose… if she wants to… you can take my little girl. I'm pretty happy her mommy had the nerve to fight for her… and I'm happy you had the nerve to fight against her.'" He paused and took a deep breath. "I will _never _forget the words your dad told me next. He said, 'It takes something to fight against your enemies, but to fight against your friends, your family, and yourself takes something much, much more.'"

"I'm glad you fought against her," I told him.

He gave me a strange look. "But if I had gotten my way you wouldn't be here. You never would've been born."

"Exactly," I told him. "So the fact that you're going to marry me now just shows me how much changed. And how much my mom loved me." I paused and took a deep breath. "Can you even imagine what would've happened if you hadn't imprinted on me?"

He took a deep breath and blew it out through his nose. "You would be dead. I would be dead. Some of your family would be dead. And your parents… I don't know what they would've done."

I nodded. "Our stars were looking out for us that day."

"Yeah," Jacob agreed. He looked pensive for a moment. "We should tell your parents," he said quietly.

I pulled out my cell phone. "Okay," I sighed. "But if my mom starts crying… I promise I will too."

I lifted the phone to my ear and put it on speaker phone. I could hear the other tents slowly waking up to our noise. My mom answered on the first ring. "Hello?" she said.

"Mommy?" I said.

"Yeah baby?"

"Is dad listening?"

"Yeah, sweetie, he's right here," she told me.

I took a deep breath. "Jacob asked me to marry him…" I heard my mom's breathing stop. "And I said yes."

My mom was still holding her breath. My dad didn't say anything for a while. "That's wonderful, Renesmee," he finally said. "We're happy for you."

Silence. "Mommy?" I said again.

"Yeah?" she choked out.

"Are you crying?"

She took a deep breath. "Not yet sweetheart," she answered.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah," she said. "We'll be okay, eventually. We did know each other before we had you, you know."

I let out a little laugh. "Yeah," I said. "I know."

There was silence again, and I knew my dad was holding onto my mom, hugging her from behind. I'd seen it done before. "I love you," I finally said.

"Love you more," they both answered at the same time.

"Yeah," I said. "Maybe."

"We'll talk to you later Ness," my dad said. "Tell Jacob we both said congratulations."

"He knows," I said, and I felt the tears coming. "You're on speaker phone."

"Mm," my father said. "Call us when you're on the road."

"I will," I promised. "See you later."

I shut my phone. There was silence throughout the camp, though I knew everyone was awake. I turned my watery eyes to Jacob. "She's crying now," I told him blandly. "I know she feels like she didn't get enough time with me… and she didn't."

"I'm sorry," Jacob said. "You don't have to marry me, you know."

I laughed a little and wiped at my eyes. "Yes I do," I told him.

"Not if you're going to be sad about it," he argued.

"Oh please," I said. "That'll never happen."

"Your parents will be sad about it," he told me.

"They would be sad no matter when I married you… they've got a long time until the end of forever." I reminded him.

He nodded his head. "I think we're breaking all the rules," he sighed.

"I think that I don't care," I told him defiantly. "Besides… my parents broke all the rules… my family breaks all the rules with their life style… you broke all the rules when you imprinted on me… I'm pretty sure I was just meant to be a rule breaker."

He smiled. "I guess you were."

We spent the morning checking out the damage from the tornado the night before. A ton of trees were down and we made a huge pile of debris for the park rangers to pick up later. Abbey stuck around camp with Claire and the kids, seeing as her injuries had obviously not healed yet. All of the women who had crouched down over the babies, apart from me, were incredibly sore, but they were managing.

The reactions to the news that me and Jacob were getting married were widely varied. Some acted happy, others surprised, others shocked. Wyatt had the best reaction of all. He asked, "Well what took you guys so long?" Same old Wyatt.

Around one o'clock, after a quick lunch, we started to tear down the campsite. We got all of the blankets folded, the sleeping bags rolled, and the air mattresses deflated. It took us about two hours, and had everyone in the car and on the road by about three thirty. The babies slept most of the way home, so I talked to Brooke and Leah and played with the radio. I missed Jacob for the five hour drive, even though he was really only a car away. His ring glistened on my finger.

We got back to La Push around eight thirty, and I helped bring all of the sleepy kids inside to their separate houses and into bed while the others unloaded and went home. Jacob and I took Emmett's monster jeep and my mom's big red truck back to my empty house after we said good-bye to everyone.

"Okay…" I sighed as I put my key into the door of the dark garage. But before I had got the key turned and the door open, Jacob grabbed my waist and whipped me around so that my back was to the door. He pressed his body to mine and put one hand on my lower back and the other on my hair line.

"Hey there beautiful," he whispered.

I smiled at him. "Hello there handsome."

He let out a low, barking chuckle. "Mm," he sighed. "I love you."

And before I could respond to him, he pressed his lips to mine. His warm air blew ever-so-gently into my hot mouth, and my tongue felt his lips. I pressed myself closer to him, and wrapped my hands in his hair. He held me tighter.

I could've literally stayed there forever. I would have loved to just stand there and kiss Jacob for the rest of eternity. But my logical thoughts came through in the end. If we kept kissing, it would eventually become something more than kissing, and we would regret that for the rest of our lives.

I pulled away gently, letting his lips keep searching for mine. "Hey," I muttered. He kissed me again. "Hey," I said more clearly. "We gotta stop."

"Hm, but I don't want to stop," he sighed.

I clicked my tongue and sighed as well. "Me neither," I told him.

He kissed me again. "Then why not keep going?"

He kissed me deeply and I almost got pulled in. "No," I gasped. "We _have_ to be responsible."

He knew that I was done. "Oh, if you insist." He breathed in and let me go. I kept his hand in mine as I let us into the big house.

"Let's stay here tonight," I told him. This would be our first night together when we were really, _truly_, alone. And considering it was the night of our engagement, we'd better watch ourselves.

"Alright," he agreed. "Wherever you want."

"We have to behave ourselves tonight," I reminded him.

"Sure, sure," he said. "I'm pretty tired anyhow."

"When do you run patrol next?" I asked him.

"Five to nine tomorrow morning."

"Oh," I said. "Then we should probably get to bed… you want the couch?"

"Yeah," he said. "That's fine. Where are you sleeping?"

"Uh…" I said. Since Zach and Andrea had moved in, we had turned the attic into another finished bedroom for Andrea, and Jasper had cleared out one of the extra rooms for Zach. At first, we hadn't really been sure if they were each others 'mates', so we had made sure there were two rooms available for them. We had since realized they were obviously a couple, and figured that eventually one of them would move into the other's room. Maybe we should make them marry each other first… gosh they were really only about fifteen and eighteen. Connor and Julia had officially taken over my dad's old room, seeing as we had the cottage. "I guess I'll probably sleep in Andrea's room… it's probably the only place that's still somewhat virgin around here."

He laughed. "Oh probably."

"I'm going to play my dad's piano for a while though if that won't bother your sleeping," I told him.

"Something as beautiful as you playing the piano could never keep me awake, just help me drift to sleep."

"Aw, don't make me blush," I teased.

He laid down on the couch, and I turned out the brighter lights, leaving only a dim one on over by the piano. I kissed his lips gently before I sat down on the piano bench. I quietly played a few of my father's compositions, and then transitioned to some of my own. I played sweet, quiet songs, and they eventually morphed into a new song.

I knew what I was writing this song about. Lots of things… Love… Temptation… New experiences… The unknown, unfamiliar world of being engaged… Wonderment about the future. I finished the last notes, and saw that Jacob was out cold, snoring as usual. I smiled at his sleeping form.

As usual, after writing a new song, I took my dad's blank sheet music and copied down the notes. Not that I would ever forget my song, but my dad and Rose liked to play my new stuff sometimes. We had a whole book full for all of the songs written on that piano. One section for me, one section for Rose, one section for my dad, and a mish mash section from when any of our other musical family members had come up with a few bars. My dad's section was the biggest of course, and Rose and I each had about the same number of pieces. We also had a huge folder of all of Julia's songs, with guitar chords and her lyrics.

I kissed Jacob's head and I made my way up to Andrea's room. I just borrowed a pair of her sweats and a t-shirt so I didn't have to run back to my house. They were a little small, but not too bad. I lay down in her un-slept-in bed and cuddled up under the sheets and her soft pink bedspread. I drifted to sleep with the thought that soon, I would be Mrs. Renesmee Carlie Cullen Black. I was finally marrying my Jacob.

Exactly six weeks later, I jumped in my charger and roared out of the driveway. It was six weeks and counting until Jacob and I were getting married. Today I was meeting my mom, Rose, Alice, Esme, Julia, and Andrea in Seattle to go dress shopping. I didn't really know what I was looking for, but I knew I would by the end of the day. We were being married on first beach in La Push. October first was the date, and five o'clock in the afternoon was the time, just as the sun was setting. The ceremony would be very private, in a very secluded area of the beach, with the woods to our back. The music would be Julia and her guitar, and we were moving a small piano there for Rosalie to play.

Everyone would be coming back to the big house for a small reception. I expected Jacob and I to be on the way to our honeymoon destination by eight o'clock. We were going up to a private couples resort at the northern tip of California for our honeymoon. It was based around the snow and ice, with outdoor and indoor hot tubs, stargazing igloos, and tons of other things for couples to do. It sounded very… romantic.

When I got to Seattle, I followed my nose to the wedding dress shop, where my family was already, as Jacob would say, 'stinking up the place.' I'm sure they were already scrounging the store for any possible dress that might work for me.

Sure enough, when I walked in the door my family was already swarming the store. My mother was speaking to one of the consultants in the far corner of the shop by a window. The store was a huge, open layout with aisles upon aisles of dresses lined up in order of size, and price range. As of right now, my biggest source of income was some properties I owned all across the country that I rented out pretty frequently. They gave me about five thousand a year, and considering I had no mortgages now that I owned my car, that money could really build up. I didn't want to spend _too_ much on a dress, Jacob and I would be on our own soon. We wouldn't have to worry about a house payment because we were going to be living on the reservation, but we were going to be dirt poor pretty soon anyhow.

I had decided to start going to college full time at a small college at the very outskirts of Seattle, quickly making my way to majoring in music education. I had already been in communications with the Quillayute Valley School District about starting a district wide music program. I would have to bounce back and forth between the Elementary School, Junior High, High School, and the Quileute Tribal School, but it's what I wanted to do with my life. Sharing music with other people, especially kids, was something that should be done more often in my opinion. The drive to the college took me exactly two hours and ten minutes, about an hour and a half faster than most people.

My mom saw me come in the door, and paused in her conversation with the consultant to point me out and wave me over. Of course we got the look from the consultant that obviously said, 'she looks too young to be her mother', but we both ignored it. "Hi," I said.

"Hello," said the consultant. "Are you the bride-to-be?"

I smiled. "I am."

"Alright," she said. "I'm Debra. Your family and I have got quite a few dresses pulled for you in your dressing room. I'll take you there if you're ready to get going."

"Sure," I said. She led the way, and I smiled at my mom as we followed after her. My family all started walking over to where my dressing room was. The store was pretty empty because it was a Wednesday, so we were practically the only ones there. Everyone sat down on a long white couch apart from my mom, who followed me into the large dressing room.

The consultant was right. My family had wasted no time in pulling what seemed like half of the store for me to try on. The consultant left us alone after unlocking the dressing room, and we set to work.

I tried on dress after dress after dress. They were all beautiful, but just missing something. Some were too big in the chest; others had skirts that were too full. Some had sleeves too poofy; others weren't tinted white enough. Eventually, I had tried on all of the dresses my family had originally pulled. I sighed as I pulled off the last one, which didn't seem to have anything right with it.

"Okay," my mom said, looking thoughtful. "Wait here, I have one more idea before I set the mosquitoes back out there to search for more dresses." I smiled at her analogy to our female family members.

I waited in the dressing room with just a house robe that the store supplied tied around me. A few minutes later, my mom came back carrying a transparent plastic covered dress. "How about this one?" She unzipped the plastic, and my breath caught in my throat.

It was beautiful. The dress was the crisp white color of snow. It had a skirt that would flow to my ankles, with a simple layer of pure white lace covering the whole bottom half of the dress. The top was a modest v-neck that would hug my curves in all the right places. The sleeves were long and lacy, and looked soft and comfortable.

The dress was perfect. It was old-fashioned, yet modern. Perfect for mine and Jacob's wedding. "Mom…" I said.

"Do you like it?"

I turned to her. "_Like_ it? I _love_ it!"

She giggled. "Come here, let's try it on."

I pulled off my robe as she pulled the dress out of its bag. I stepped into it and pulled it up gently. It felt like fate when it fit me perfectly. My mom zipped up the back, and pulled the top button closed. "Oh… Ness…" She said.

I turned to look at myself in the mirror and gasped as I saw myself. I was… _beautiful_. The dress was everything I had hoped for and more. It clung to my body on the top, and flowed gracefully down to my feet at the bottom. The color was as white as a pearl, and gave my skin just the right amount of color. My brown eyes were wide with shock as I looked at myself.

"I think we found the dress, Mom," I muttered.

"Uh, yeah," she agreed. "C'mon let's go show everyone else."

"Wait," I said, shaking my head. "Lay it on me; what does the price tag say?"

"What?" she said. "You didn't think I was going to make you buy your own wedding dress did you? I'm buying you that gown."

"No," I said. "I _can't_ let you do that."

"You _can_, and you will," she insisted.

I pierced her with my eyes, already knowing her stubbornness would win out over mine. "Mom…" I sighed after a few seconds, smiling. "Thank-you. So much."

"You're welcome," she told me with a smile. "Now come give me a hug."

I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her. She held me gently, like she always had. She kissed the top of my head. She was _barely_ taller than me. Only by about half an inch. "I love you," she said.

"I love you too mommy," I told her.

"Hm," she said. "Why did you grow up so fast?"

"Sorry, it's in my blood… no pun intended."

She laughed half-heartedly. "Right," she said. "C'mon, I want to go show our family my beautiful daughter."

She grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the dressing room before I could protest. There were gasps as my family saw me.

"Do you like it?" I asked.

"It's beautiful!" Andrea exclaimed.

I laughed. "That's what I thought," I told her. I sighed and smiled. "This is the dress," I said.

"Well then," Alice said. "Let's get going, we still need to find you shoes and jewelry." Alice: my shop-til-you-drop-then-get-up-and-keep-going aunt.

It didn't take us long to find jewelry or shoes. We drove home, and mom and Rosalie rode with me this time. We pulled into our own driveway at exactly five o'clock, and we put the cars in the garage. I pulled my plastic covered dress from the trunk, and mom grabbed the bags with the shoes and jewelry. I knew for a fact that Jacob ran patrol every Wednesday from three to seven, and then traded off with Collin. After Collin came Leah, and after Leah came Sam for the five am shift, and so on and so forth. The two packs worked together as one, usually.

My dad was staring at his piano when we came in. Not playing, just staring at it. He looked up as we all took off our coats and hung them on hangers. The others were all in the living room, watching a football game. "Did you find something?" my dad asked.

I nodded with a smile on my lips.

"Can I see it?"

"Sure, if you want to," I told him. The heads of the other boys turned in my direction.

I unzipped the plastic wrappings, and looked up to see my dad's reaction. He smiled. "That's beautiful," he said. "It might be prettier than you."

He smirked, and I threw it right back at him. "I'll be taking _that_ one, as a compliment," I told him.

He began to play his piano, something I didn't recognize of his. "What're you playing?" I asked.

"Oh nothing," he said, and stopped playing. I cocked my head to the left and furrowed my brows. He'd never done anything like that before…

"O… kay?" I said.

He smiled. "You'll just have to wait and see," he told me.

I went over to La Push for the rest of the evening. I was helping Paul with his kids, seeing as Rachel was still at work, when Jacob found me. "Hey," he said as he walked in the door.

"Hi," I said. "What are we doing tonight?"

"Sleeping."

"I mean before that."

"Oh," he said. "How about… we climb trees?"

I looked at him. "I think that is possibly the most random thing someone has ever said to me."

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know… I've always wondered what it looks like up there at night."

I raised my eyebrows. "Well, you're a lot closer to the stars… My dad used to put me on his back and climb as high as the trees would let us… when I was much smaller of course. The first time he took me up there… I had woken up crying from a nightmare. It was like three in the morning."

"Wow," Jacob said. "You'll have to show me the tallest trees then."

I smiled. "It could take us a while to get up there," I warned him. "And probably a lot longer to get back down."

"Then we better start now."

The stars were beautiful from a hundred feet up. Jacob and I had free climbed for about half an hour before we had got to the top most branches. We were sitting on the branch with our feet hanging off, leaning our backs against another branch that was a little higher up. He had his arm around my shoulders.

I leaned up and kissed his lips gently. He kissed back just as gently. "I love you," I told him.

"I love you too," he whispered.

I kissed him again. "October first can't come fast enough," I murmured to him.

An eagle cawed in the distance. "It'll be here before you know it."

I kissed him again. I sighed as I leaned into him and his heat surrounded me.

Sure enough, the next six weeks passed in a blur of time spent with my family, choosing minor details for the wedding, and being totally and helplessly in love with Jacob.

At three thirty on my wedding day, I pulled my dress up around my body, and Andrea helped me zip up the back. I had asked her to be my maid of honor, and she had accepted. I pulled my small heels on; I had practiced walking in them in the sand the day before. It wasn't too hard. My mom hooked my necklace around my neck.

I had started a full-time college schedule in Seattle about a month ago. I had been expecting to be _way_ more overwhelmed than I really was. The classes were only a little harder than my High School classes, and if I missed a class, or just didn't pay attention that day, my super-fast mind had no problem catching up. That was one quality of having a vampire gene in me that I didn't mind. Having a brain that moved twice as fast as human's was _very_ helpful in school.

My mom had found my veil at a small dress shop in Port Angeles. It matched my dress perfectly, and wasn't too long or overly fluffed. Alice had spent the afternoon working on my hair and makeup. She had taken my long bronze ringlets and pulled a few of them back with bobby pins, and let the rest flow down my back. She had taken a curl enhancer to my hair, and the result was stunning. My makeup was light and minimal. I had brown eyeliner and brown mascara on my eyes, but that was pretty much it.

Most of my family was already at the beach by four thirty, only my father, mother, and Andrea were still here. My dad had pulled the car up to the front of the house, and led me by the arm to it in the fading pink light of the setting sun. It was the perfect October night.

I sat in the back with Andrea, and my parents were in the front seat, clinging to each other's hands. We made small talk on the way over. As we pulled up to the beach, about two dozen cars were parked in four rows of six. My dad parked our car on the end, and Andrea made her way to the beginning of the aisle between the chairs.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

"I love you Renesmee Carlie," my mother told me as she wrapped her arms around my waist. "I always have, and always will." She told me with a sniff. "Don't ever forget that."

"I won't," I told her, and I held back my tears. "Thank-you for fighting for me," I whispered. "From the very beginning, you've taught me anything has a fighting chance as long as some one's willing to fight for it. Thank-you for being the one to give me that fighting chance."

I bit my lip so I wouldn't cry. She let out a shaky breath and sniffed. "I wouldn't change that choice I made for anything… I love you… and I'll fight for you whenever or wherever you need me."

"I love you too," I said. She pulled back to look at me. She brushed a strand of hair away from my face and with a deep breath, turned and walked to her seat in the very front row. She looked awfully alone without my dad.

I turned to face him, and his face was nothing but happy for me. He smiled, and held out his arm to me.

I took it with a matching smile. "Thank-you," I whispered in his ear. "For every night that I woke up crying and you sang me back to sleep. Thank- you for every tear you wiped out my eyes, and every smile you put on my face. Thank-you for letting me play _your_ piano, and teaching me how to do it. Thank-you for letting me be daddy's little girl," I took a deep breath. "And thank-you for the vampire genes you've put in my body. I've had a one-in-a-million shot at my whole life, and you taught me to stand on my own two feet and be that one. You taught me that nothing is impossible, and not to let anybody tell me otherwise." I bit my lip for the second time that night.

He kissed my forehead, and wrapped his arms around me. "You'll _always_ be my little girl, Renesmee. Hold your head high sweetheart; it's your wedding day. Don't ever be ashamed of what you are, and be proud of who you were, and who you'll become." He smiled at me again. "Love you forever."

"Miss you for always," and one tear slid down my cheek. He brushed it away.

"No crying yet pretty little girl," he whispered. "Jacob's at the end of the aisle waiting for you."

I blinked my eyes, and smiled. He was right. My own personal knight-in-shining-armor was waiting for me. Julia and Rosalie began playing the music, and Andrea started her procession down the aisle. Quil was Jacob's best man, and they stood waiting with the minister at the end of the aisle.

I gripped my father's arm, and he took the first step, leading me down the aisle. I caught Jacob's eye and he smiled. I smiled back. The music was not incredibly slow, but it was taking far too long for me to reach Jacob and the warmth and happiness that he brought with him.

Not a moment too soon, we reached Jacob and he held out his hand to me. My father took my hand in his, kissed it, and passed it to Jacob. He went to sit by my mother in the front row, who was smiling, but I knew was holding her breath so she wouldn't cry. They linked hands, and held on tight. I smiled at Jacob, handed my bouquet to Julia, and we turned to the minister.

Our vows were traditional. They were simple, quick, and before I knew it, the minister was saying, "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Jacob was grinning as he leaned in to kiss me. We kissed somewhere in between tender and passionate… it was a kiss I knew I would never forget. The beach was filled with claps and cheers as we broke apart, and we were surrounded by a swarm of hugs. Jacob and I kept out hands linked together as we were gently jostled and bumped by the loving crowd.

My mother reached me first, still smiling, still holding her breath, but I heard it whoosh out of her as she hugged me. "I love you," she told me.

"I love you too," I told her back, and when we broke away, she wasn't visibly crying. Her smile was almost as big as mine. I showed her a quick flashback of my favorite memories I had of her. Reading me stories, teaching me how to cook when I could barely reach the stove, holding me tight against her chest on a snowy morning with the Volturi just yards from us. Her rocking me to sleep for the first time, smiling at me right after I was born. Standing in front of me as we met the Volturi for a second time, with hundreds of vampires surrounding us. Rubbing my hair back from my face as I lay recovering from something that never should've happened. Talking to me before I walked down the aisle.

My father got to me next. He didn't say anything, just held onto me and hugged me tightly. I could feel his jaw clamping his teeth together on my cheek. I thought if he had wanted to, he would've cried at that moment. He was smiling when we broke apart as well, and I showed him a quick burst of my favorite memories with him. Singing my lullaby to me for the first time, kissing my head and rocking me to sleep next to my mother's silent, rigid body as she turned into a vampire. Teaching me how to play the piano, running into my room as I screamed in my sleep. Showing me how to play baseball, and how to throw a punch. Running with me through the woods as we raced a group of werewolves. Kissing me as he walked across a snow-covered field toward his possible death. Giving me advice that was forever stuck in my head, never letting me give up at anything. Talking to me as I clung to his arm in a wedding dress.

In the few seconds it took for me to show him these memories, the crowd came upon us, and my parents were pushed back, away from me. I didn't break eye contact with them until the last possible second when I mouthed, 'I love you'.

Various members of my family and friends were hugging me, and I turned my attention to them, never breaking my grasp with Jacob's hand. He squeezed it gently, and I squeezed back. I leaned down to kiss Billy on the cheek as he pushed himself up to me. "Thank-you for marrying my son," he whispered to me in his deep, gravelly voice.

I smiled at him. "Thank-you for _letting_ me marry your son."

Grandpa Charlie was right behind Billy, pulling my now step-grandmother Sue by the hand. He hugged me and I kissed him on the cheek, but I couldn't say anything to him before the next person had their arms around me.

Slowly but surely, we all made our way to the cars. Jacob and I led the way in his red Ferrari that my mom had given to him for his twenty-first birthday, replacing it with her big red truck. The second Jacob shut the passenger door and all the sounds from outside were muffled a little, we looked at each other, and cracked up. Neither of us had been expecting _that_ many people to be hugging and kissing us at once.

We finally stopped laughing and caught our breath. "I love you," he sighed.

"I love you too," I told him, and we talked and laughed all the way back to the big white house.

When we pulled into the driveway, followed by a procession of cars coming from the beach, the DJ, dance floor, lights, and tables were all already set up. As soon as all the guests had arrived from the beach, it wasn't long before the DJ called Jacob and I onto the dance floor for our first dance.

The music started and Jacob began to spin me gently around the dance floor. We danced to a soft, but modern slow song with meaningful lyrics that both Jacob and I liked. "So," he said with a grin. "How are you beautiful?"

"Oh, you know," I said. "Same old same old. This is only the happiest I've ever been. I'm sure I'll get over it." I gave him my sarcastic smirk.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," he said just as sarcastically. We were silent for a minute. "By the way; I caught a few glimpses of what you were showing your parents. That was really sweet of you."

I smiled at him a little. "I think I made them cry."

"That's okay," Jacob said. "It's good to cry, and everyone needs someone who's capable of making them tear up."

"Then I guess its good they got me, huh?"

He took a deep breath in. "It's good that I got you, too."

I kissed his lips as we continued to dance, and cameras flashed. "There are absolutely no words for how you make me feel, Jacob Black." There were tears in my eyes. "And I can't _wait_ to see what the rest of forever throws at us."

"Me neither," he whispered, and we kissed again as the song ended.

Everyone cheered, and we broke apart keeping our hands linked.

The next song was for me and my father, and I _knew_ I was going to lose it. In fact, I almost started crying when the DJ called us onto the dance floor. My father took my hands in his, and put them on his shoulders, putting his hands on my back. "Well now," he said. He smiled at me. "I never saw this moment coming Renesmee Carlie."

I smiled too. "When I was little… I never saw that coming to an end. I thought it would just go on forever and ever, and I would never grow up. Yet here I am… dancing with my daddy on my wedding day."

"You grew up too fast," he agreed. "You weren't supposed to do that."

I felt the tears coming, and I kept the smile on my face as they spilled over. "This is the happiest day of my life," I told him. "But I didn't realize how hard it would be to say good-bye to the only life I've ever known."

"I know what you mean," he said, wiping the tears off my cheeks. "You're just afraid of the unknown. Afraid that it won't be easy," he added. "I was afraid of that on my wedding day too."

I sighed. "That's it," I said.

"Let me tell you this," he said. "Don't be afraid of the unknown. It's just a new adventure, and every day is just a new challenge. Remember that."

"I will," I promised.

At that moment, the DJ called all the other father's and daughters out onto the dance floor. We both turned to watch as different pairs came to dance with us. Mom and Grandpa Charlie were out there of course, along with Carlisle and Rosalie, though I was sure he would switch with Alice or Andrea soon enough. Joel was spinning around with Lexi on his toes, and Sam had both Jenny and Alli with him. The babies of the wolf packs were starting to pull themselves up into standing positions now, seeing as they were nine months old. Paul was dancing with Kristin, who was laughing as he spun her in circles. Jared was holding Kelsey in his arms and dancing with her as she laid her head on his shoulder. Embry even brought Madi out onto the dance floor and danced around with her half-asleep against his chest. Rachel was swinging back and forth with Billy, and they were both laughing because it was so absurd to dance with someone in a wheel chair.

The vampires that we had invited included Peter, Charlotte, The Denali's, including Tanya's brand-new husband Andrew, and a few other of the…_kinder_…vampires that had come to witness and fight for my life when I was younger. The Amazon's; Kachiri, Senna, and Zafrina were all here, along with the Irish's; Maggie, Siobhan and Liam.

Carlisle had now switched out Rosalie with Alice, and I watched as he traded Alice for Andrea. Andrea looked a little unsure at first when Carlisle held out his hand to her, but Carlisle wouldn't have let her say no. He was soon spinning her around the floor, and I turned my eyes back to my father.

"You know," he said. "You will always, _always_ be my little girl. No matter how old you get, no matter what happens, you'll still be my little girl."

"Okay," I said. "I'll always stay your little girl, for the rest of forever."

"Sounds perfect," he told me. He took a deep breath. "Don't ever be afraid to ask for help Nessie… You don't have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders… And I'll always be there. Whenever you need me, just call and I'll come running, I promise."

"Thank-you," I sighed. "That means a lot to me…" I showed him a few more of my favorite moments with him. Making a mother's day card with him for my mom, dancing with him at Connor and Julia's wedding, the first time he took me hunting, holding a bottle full of human blood to my lips when I was only a few days old. The song ended as I showed him the last of my favorite memories of him, from just few minutes ago when we were talking.

He smiled at me as we broke apart, and kissed me on the forehead. The dancing started up again with a faster upbeat tune, and people filed onto the dance floor. I went to Jacob, and a sort of line formed around us. There were a lot of people we hadn't talked to yet, and a lot of people who wanted to talk to us.

The night flew by. It wasn't long before Jacob and I were cutting the cake with a long silver knife, and we shoved it into each other's faces. It seemed like the very next moment I was tossing my bouquet over my shoulder into a crowd of woman with waiting hands. Maggie caught it, with a smile on her face. Then I was sitting on Quil's back as Jacob removed my garter with his teeth. He winked at me, and slung it right into Wyatt's face.

The dancing went on for a while more, but soon, Andrea was dragging me upstairs to get ready to leave. My mom and Alice came with. They left my hair like it was, just taking the veil out of it, and helped me pull off my dress, carefully hanging it back up in its wrappings. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a brand new long-sleeved pink t-shirt that fit me nicely. I pulled on a pair of black ballet flats, and I turned to my mom.

She gave me one last long hug, and told me she loved me again. I of course told her I loved her back, and didn't think I could ever mean it more. She kissed my forehead, and Andrea handed me my suitcase. Jacob was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs in a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, with laced up black tennis shoes.

He grabbed my hand, and the shower of rice started falling on us. We ran _almost_ as fast as we could to the Ferrari, seeing as several well aimed pieces were pelting us at the moment. We got into the car, and slammed the door behind us, laughing again.

I saw my parents smiling faces, and I waved as Jacob expertly handled the Ferrari out onto the main road, and said good-bye to Forks as we pulled onto the main highway a few minutes later. The drive was a good eight hours of laughter, and we pulled into the resort at four am.

It was absolutely stunning. It was snowing when we arrived, and there were blue glowing lamps lighting our way as we came from the parking lot and into the main building. Jacob led the way, each of us pulling a suit case in one hand, and holding the other's hand in the other. There was a receptionist at the front desk even though it was so early in the morning, and she smiled as we walked up.

"Hello," she said. "Names?"

"Jacob and Nessie Black," Jacob said, and smiled. I liked the way our names sounded together… Nessie Black…

"I see," she said, and searched for our names on the computer. "You're cabin is pretty far out, but the pathways are lit at all hours." She searched under the desk for two pairs of keys. Each key was labeled. "These keys will get you into your cabin and all other attractions available to guests." She scrolled on her computer. "Breakfast is served until ten in the morning, and it will be brought to your cabin when it is ordered, as all meals will. You have tomorrow to choose what activities you'd like to do for the rest of your stay here, and to check out the campus of the resort. For anything you might need, we have a concierge available twenty-four-seven."

"Thank-you," Jacob said. "We should be good to go then."

We followed the signs throughout the near-silent resort until we found our cabin. It was a small little fake-log cabin, like all the buildings here were. "C'mon," Jacob said, and he swept me into his arms.

I tried to protest. "Threshold," he reminded me, and I let him open the door, and carry me inside.

We both gasped at the same time, and he set me on my feet. Neither of us had been expecting the interior to be _this_ good. There was a fire burning in the hearth already, and when Jake hit the light switch, the light was comfortable, and slightly dimmed. To the right there was a small living area with just a tiny brown couch, a wide easy chair, and a flat screen television.

To the left was a small kitchen with a fridge, microwave, a little counter space, a few cabinets, and a little two-seater snack bar for us to eat at. We walked a little further in, shutting the front door behind us. We came to a short hallway, with two open doors. We peeked into the one on the left.

Inside it was a fairly large bathroom. There was a large Jacuzzi tub surrounded by candle stubs in the far right corner, and a shower big enough for two people in the far left corner. There was a double sink set in the front right corner, a rack with towels, and two robes hanging on it in the front left corner.

We both backed out of the… inviting… bathroom and made our way to the second door in the hallway. I knew what it was before we looked in.

The bedroom was beautifully, intoxicatingly, sexually, romantic. There was a large California king-sized bed with a fluffy comforter and pillows on it. There was a small brown dresser to put our clothes in, and a closet with a little iron and ironing board that could fold out of it. It screamed… well, it screamed… _sex_.

We stood in shocked silence, before finally, Jacob squeezed my hand, and yawned. "We should get some sleep," he said. "We can enjoy the sights tomorrow.

"You're right," I said. I pulled my suitcase across the hard wood floor and placed it on the bed. I unzipped it, and Jacob unzipped his on the other side. I bluntly ignored the lingerie Andrea had packed for me, pulling out a soft-silk pair of pale blue pajamas. Jacob pulled out a pair of loose-fitting shorts, and a red sleeveless shirt.

We both met each other's eyes for only a moment before we began to change. I pulled off my shirt first, and so did he. I had one moment of hesitation before I pulled off my bra as well, and buttoned the pajama shirt around me. I slipped off my shoes and pulled down my jeans at the same time he did. I changed into a fresh pair of underwear, as did he, and pulled my pajama pants up. I pulled the bobby pins out of my hair, and ran a brush through my curls. We climbed into bed at the same time. Jacob found a light switch by the bed and we were thrown into darkness.

I had fallen asleep with Jacob before. This part was nothing new. I curled my body up to his, and he wrapped his arms around me. What came next was _very_ new. Jacob put one of his legs in between mine, so we were intertwined. I think he heard my breath catch slightly, but made no comment. He pushed his hand in my shirt and up my back until it rested in between my shoulder blades.

I pushed my hands up around his waist, and onto his back. I pulled his shirt up and off of him a one quick, fluid movement. He breathed in my ear. "I love you," he murmured.

"I love you too," I whispered.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He said after a minute of silence.

There was even more silence as I traced my hands up and down his back. I took a deep breath. "Positive," I whispered.

And with that, he pulled my shirt up off my head, and pulled me onto him, locking his lips with mine.

I awoke to the semi-brightness of a northern California sun shining through the curtains. I felt Jacob's body pressed against mine, and I took a few deep breaths. He rubbed his hands up and down my bear back, showing me he was awake too. I slowly opened my eyes to his face, and smiled at him.

He smiled back. "I love you," I said quietly.

"I love you too," he said just as quietly.

He took some deep breaths with me the second time I did it. I rolled off of him a little, and he kept his arm around my shoulders. I put both hands above my head and stretched. I felt his toes point as he stretched as well. I felt… amazing. That had been better than I had expected anything could be, and better than anything anyone could ever tell me about. Jacob had made everything feel so… natural, and meant to be. It hadn't been awkward, or uncomfortable, just… perfect.

It felt like a few pieces of my life had fallen into place around me last night. I liked the feeling. I leaned up and kissed Jacob, and he kissed back. I took a deep breath in through my nose as we broke apart.

I stiffened slightly, and Jacob's eyes flew open to meet mine. "What?" he asked.

"Uh…" I said. I looked down at my body and the tangled mass of sheets surrounding us. It didn't look too bad. .."We have a little problem… Gosh, I'm sorry."

"What?" he asked, confused.

"I think Mother Nature has come to visit me for the month," I told him. "Pretty recently."

He blinked, still confused. "Oh!" he said after a second, and he took another deep breath. "I see," he said more calmly.

I smiled. "C'mon," I said. "Let's get showered, we've got a lot of resort to visit and a lot of activities to decide on."

"Right," he said with a laugh. We both climbed out of bed, and I pulled on a robe, heading for the bathroom. He followed me, but not before ripping the sheets off the bed and putting them in the hamper. The maid would put new ones on. I went into the bathroom and turned on the shower, letting the water get hot and soon climbed in. Jacob climbed in behind me. I could get used to this…

Jacob and I spent the rest of the day strolling around the resort campus, looking at all the different activities we could do. We had gotten a little brown booklet from the concierge that we put the activity we wanted and the time that we wanted it on a list that we had to make for all of the days we were going to be staying here. We were only going to be here for a week, we were driving back next Saturday afternoon.

By three o'clock that afternoon, Jacob and I had gone all over the resort, which was _huge_. We had decided to head back to our cabin for the rest of the night after dropping off the little brown booklet at the concierge desk. We crashed on the couch with a comedy in the DVD player.

I had called my mom earlier today to tell her that we were here obviously, and tell her that yes; I was having a good time. We didn't go very far into detail about what that fun _was_… that would've been _really_ awkward.

Jacob and I both fell asleep on the couch that night. I faintly remember him carrying me to bed in the middle of the night when he woke up. We woke up _very_ early the next morning. We were going on a snowy sunrise ice walk. We both dressed in warm clothes (not that it would matter) and snow boots, and headed out for our walk. It was dark out when we started off, and I pulled a knit cap down over my ears.

Jacob grabbed my hand as we walked silently for a minute. "So…" I said.

"So," he repeated me.

I took a deep breath. "That sure was something the other night."

He laughed. "Yeah…" he sighed. "No matter what anyone tells you, or warns you, nothing could prepare me for how… amazing that was, you know?"

"Yeah," I said. "I know." I smiled. "Though I don't think it would've been near as good had it not been with you."

"Hm," Jacob said. "I can tell you one thing; I _know_ it wouldn't have been worth having sex with anyone before you. You were my first… which just made it all the better."

I stopped walking and pulled him to me, kissing him. "No matter what happens," I told him. "I promise to love you for the rest of forever. _Nothing_ could make me stop loving you, _nothing_."

He swallowed. "You don't even know the half of it," he sighed. "I love you so, so much Nessie… You mean more than the world to me. I would give you everything... and anything I had if that's what you wanted…"

"What I don't understand," I cut him off. "Is how someone could love me as much as I love them."

He grinned at me. "I'm not having any trouble with loving you… Just wondering how I could be so lucky as to have you love me."

We turned and walked on, keeping our hands linked. We reached our destination, and turned to watch the sun rise the rest of the way. It was beautiful, shining over the ice the way it did. Though I got distracted when I saw Jacob. I rarely saw him in sunlight, and never sunlight as bright and pure as the rays coming from the sun now. It glistened off of his mahogany colored skin, and lit up his whole face. His short black hair looked sleek and shiny, and his brown eyes were accented perfectly. He turned to smile at me when he noticed I was looking at him, and his features were thrown into even more beauty.

Jacob and I only had one more activity that night. We were getting massages together. It was with two different masseuses, but we would be in the same room together. I was a little worried the masseuses would notice we were both extremely warm, but I didn't think they would comment. Our massages were scheduled for seven o'clock that night, and we left our cabin around six thirty. When we arrived at the massage hut (that's literally what it was called), we were sent into a room to undress, and to climb onto the massage tables.

The room was very private, and I liked it that way. We both laid face down on the massage tables, but turned our heads so we could see each other. I wrapped the blankets over my body from my hips down, and so did Jacob. I could see his defined muscles glimmering in the dim candle light, and I shivered at how much I wanted him.

He grinned at me, and I smiled at him. The masseuses knocked on the door, and I told them to come in. I smelled them before I saw them. It was two college-aged-looking girls, and they seemed sweet enough. "Hi," one of them said sweetly. "I'm Tara, and that's Julie. And you are the Black's?"

"We are," Jacob answered. The Black's…. I liked it.

"Alright then," Julie said. "Have either of you ever had a professional massage before?"

"No," we both answered at the same time.

"Okay," Tara said. "Is there any where either of you want us to focus on?"

"Not really," I said, and Jacob agreed.

"Okay," Julie said. "Then we'll just get right to it."

She rubbed oil all up and down her hands and started to rub my back. It felt amazing, but I flinched as she started putting pressure on my shoulders. I said nothing, but my eyes got really wide and I smiled at Jacob. He laughed at me quietly.

"Jacob," I said.

"Yep?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

I smiled at him again. "Do you want to have kids?"

The silence in the room increased by a tenfold. He sighed. "You ask good questions." He responded.

"Then give me good answers," I smiled at him, and he gave me a small smile back.

"Okay," he said. He took a deep breath. "Yeah… I want to have kids."

I nodded my head, keeping the smile on my face. "No matter the price?"

He squinted at me. "I don't understand what you're saying, sweetie."


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

"Where do you think I stand on the situation?"

"I think you want to have kids," Jacob said. "But you're afraid of the unknown. And having too many variables in a situation scares you."

"You have that exactly right," I told him. I thought about what I said next; I didn't want the masseuses putting me in an insane asylum. "What I'm asking…" I sighed. "Is even with all of the variables, and all the unknown, do you still want to have a baby?"

He thought about it. "Is it selfish…" he closed his eyes and opened them again. "If I say yes?"

I gave him a very small smile. "No," I said. "Not really"

He sighed. "Now let me ask you that question. With all of the variables, and all of the unknown, do you want to have a baby?"

I let my smile fall as I thought about it. "Will you be there to help me through the scary parts?"

"Yes," he said immediately. "But… I might be scared too."

"But you'll be there?"

"Of course."

"Then…" I said, weighing my words. "Yes… I want to have a baby."

He was silent for the longest time, but his lips were pressed together tightly into a line that made him look like he was trying not to smile. "So here we go," he said. "About to venture into the most unknown place the world's never thought about."

I laughed. "You got that right."

"Are you afraid?"

"Terrified."

"Me too," he said. He sighed. "How the hell are we going to do this?"

"Well Jacob," I said. "When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much…"

"Not that part," he said with a smile. "I meant all the stuff after that."

"Oh," I said. "Well we're doomed after that. I've got it; you cover my eyes, I'll cover yours, and we'll run into the fire screaming like a bunch of lunatics."

"Works for me," he said with a grin.

"Right then," I said.

"When do we start?" he asked.

"About five days from now."

He was silent while he pondered why I had given him such a certain amount of time. "Oh yeah!" he said a minute later. "I forgot about that."

"Mm," I said. "I didn't."

"I'll bet you didn't."

"I love you Jacob."

"I love you Nessie."

It was the Sunday after Jacob and I had been married, and we pulled into the driveway of our new house on the reservation. We had spent about a week before the wedding moving all of our stuff in, and getting the house set up, but this was the first night we were spending in it. We had had a great time on our honeymoon, but we were glad to be back in the familiar town of La Push, with family and friends whenever we needed them.

We had just got back from our honeymoon, and it was extremely early on Sunday morning, just after midnight actually. We were both pretty tired… but we didn't want to sleep just yet. We had talked a lot since we decided we wanted to have a baby… and we were both worried we were going to lose our nerve before we decided to try. We had decided on our way back that we wanted to start tonight…

A lot of thoughts had been running through my head. What would this baby be like when it was put in my position now? Would it be a girl? Would she have to deal with the issue of maybe not being able to have a baby with a normal life? Would she even have somebody to have a baby with? I didn't let myself think of these things as I climbed into bed with Jacob and felt his arms wrap around me. I kissed him gently, and then let him take me away.

I awoke the next morning to pounding on our door, and Jacob jumping out of bed, pulling a pair of shorts on. It was five am, dark, and absolutely _pouring _outside. I heard Jacob answer the door.

"My god!" he said. "What the hell Leah, get in here you're pregnant!"

I heard her stumble through the door. "We have a situation!" she half yelled at him, fighting between calm and panic.

"What?" Jacob asked.

"Have you ever met Kaylie and Lauren's little brother? His name is Bryce, he's like fourteen."

"I don't know," Jacob said. "Maybe in passing. Why?"

"He just exploded out of his skin and now he's a werewolf!"

"What?" Jacob asked. "Why?"

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe because he got pissed and there's a coven of vampires within a ten mile radius of here?" I heard her slap him across the face, and decided it was time for me to make an appearance.

I grabbed my robe from the floor and wrapped it around me as I walked into the front room.

"Right," Jacob said. "Stupid question. Where is he?"

"Wyatt's got him about three miles from here you're the first person I've told."

"You left him with Wyatt?!" Jacob yelled.

"Yes, he was running patrol with me," she said quietly. "Don't yell, you never know when I might start crying and this has been a very emotional experience for me."

Jacob took a deep breath. "Okay," he said. "Don't cry. I need to get over there. Can you go tell Sam so he can get everyone else?"

"Sure."

Jacob turned around and gave me a kiss on the lips. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he promised. "I love you."

"Love you too," I said. He smiled, and was out the door and sprinting into the woods before I could say another thing. I smiled. They say we made our living on crazy…

I watched the houses of La Push to see what would happen. It was like a chain reaction. Sam's lights came on, then further down the road Leah's lights turned on as she got her husband, and they took all three of their sleepy children over to Emily where she held the door open for them and took Cole with one arm. I saw Leah and Joel split up, and as they went different ways, I saw lights come on at Brooke and Kaylie's house, who seemed, along with their parents, to have slept through their brother's transformation.

Paul's lights came on, then Jared's across town. Brooke and Embry's lit up, and I saw them run out of the house with their sleeping twins over to Sue and Grandpa Charlie's house. Leah got to her brother's house, and Joel got to Collin's. Leah got to Brady's. Joel got to Caleb, Jeremy, and Matt's, who were bunking together at the moment.

Lucas, Nathan, Kyle, and Wyatt were also bunking together at a different house, and their lights flickered on as well. Quil's lights lit up last. I watched as everyone sprinted into the woods. I sighed as the last of the wolves disappeared. I decided to shower, and get myself ready for the day. It only took me a few minutes, so I decided I might as well as be useful and go try to help Emily with the kids. It was only about five forty-five, and she needed her sleep.

I knocked on her door, and she called me in quietly. I opened her door slowly and shook the rain out of my eyes, hanging my coat on one of the hooks by the door. Emily looked… well… pregnant. Her stomach was starting to protrude slightly, and she had faint bags under her eyes. Of course, she still looked as beautiful as she always had. After Carlisle had performed reconstructive surgery on her face a few years ago, you never would've known that she had once had marks across her face that wouldn't let some long-lived horrible memories die.

Her hair was tied back into a knot at the back of her head, and she was in her pajama pants and slightly tight long sleeved t-shirt. She had socks on her feet and was padding back and forth, getting all of the kids back to sleep, and making sure everyone was okay. She had Lexi and Jenny sleeping together in the girl's room, along with Nick and Brandon in his room. Emily had laid both of the babies out on the floor.

"Go back to sleep Emily," I told her.

"Oh no, I'm fine," she assured me, even though her face was pale and she looked exhausted.

"Emily," I said more sternly. "Go back to bed, at least for a little while longer. You look like you're about to pass out."

"Nessie I'm-"

"Pregnant," I finished for her. "Which means you need to go lay down. I'm just going to chill out on your couch anyway." I was in black running pants and a pink zip up hoodie, with my hair in a ponytail; I might even fall asleep if things were running smoothly.

She sighed, but I saw the resignation in her face. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Thank- you," she said gratefully.

She made her way back to her and Sam's bedroom, and shut the door behind her. I knew she would probably start puking in a little bit, but hopefully she could get a little shut-eye before then.

Cole woke up crying for his 'ma ma ma' a little while later, but it didn't take me long to soothe him back to sleep on my chest that was even warmer than his mother's. It was silent, other than the sleeping children, for about an hour, and then Emily started puking. She was very quiet about it, and she only puked a few times. It was seven thirty when I heard her roll out of bed after getting some well deserved sleep. I listened as the shower turned on, and Emily got ready for the day.

She came out in a pair of jeans and a maternity shirt, with her straight black hair left hanging down around her shoulders. "Thank-you," she said again as she shut her bedroom door behind her quietly. She looked at the babies. "I'm letting them sleep as long as they want."

I nodded. "Do you mind if I go find them and see what's going on?"

"Of course not!" she said. "You go right ahead, just make sure you come back and tell me what's happening."

"Right," I said. "See you in a bit," I told her.

I headed out her back door and went straight for the woods. Once I was deep enough, I followed my nose in the direction of the wolves. Once I found them, I stayed hidden for a while; I didn't want them to know I was here just yet.

They were in one of the many small clearings in the woods, and they were all in human form. Bryce was young. Leah was right; he could only be about fourteen. He looked completely traumatized. They were sitting on the ground, and Kaylie had her arm around his shoulder. He was staring at the ground with blank eyes, and he looked weak and defenseless.

Lauren was sitting on his other side, but she wasn't touching him. Jacob was speaking at the moment. "It's not as bad as it seems, it really isn't," he said.

"And trust me," Sam said. "You've got plenty of people looking out for you, and plenty of people to talk to. Yeah, I know you're whole life is changing and you don't want it to, but it's going to happen. I'm sorry, I really am, but nobody can do anything about it. Nobody can stop this."

Bryce sighed. "Great," he said.

"You can cry if you want," Leah said bluntly. "I'll even cry with you. And so will Seth."

"But I'm not sad," Seth argued.

"I don't care. Figure out how to cry or _I'll_ figure out how to _make _you cry."

"Don't make him cry," Bryce said. "Nobody's crying here." He had a very calm, quiet voice, much like Sam's. He sounded very sure of himself. That wasn't really normal for new werewolves… "Are you afraid?" Bryce asked. He looked at the ground, but he didn't sound embarrassed.

"Yes," Sam said. "I'm terrified."

"Should I be afraid?" Bryce asked, and he looked right into Sam's eyes.

Sam blinked. "Only if you want to be," he said a minute later.

Bryce looked around him and blinked. "So now what?" he asked.

"Well," Jacob said. "We told you about the two packs…" he trailed off. "You need to pick which one you want to be in."

"Um," Bryce squinted his eyebrows together. "Well… you guys can read each other's minds, right?"

"Uh-huh," Jake said.

He looked to his left at Lauren, then to his right at Kaylie. "Oh… _hell_," he said. I held back my giggle. "No offense," he said, talking to Lauren and Kaylie, "But get me as far away from their heads as you can."

Several people laughed including me. That caught Jacob's attention immediately. He turned to look for me. I stepped out from behind the trees, and a few of the guys jumped.

"Ness!" Jacob said in surprise. "Um, why are you here?"

"Me and Emily wanted to know what was going on," I said bluntly.

"Oh," Jacob said. "Right… This is Bryce," he gestured at Bryce who was staring at me with wide eyes. "Bryce, this is Nessie."

"Hi," I said,

"Hi," he said. "And… who are you Nessie?"

"His wife." I pointed at Jacob. "And who are you Bryce?"

"Their brother," he stuck his thumbs out either way at his sisters.

"Got it," I said, nodding. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too."

"Was Emily puking?" Sam asked.

"Yep," I told him. "Only a few times though… like three I think. Everyone was still asleep when I left though."

Sam sighed. "Right."

"Well okay then," I said after standing in silence for a second. "I'm going… home I think. I have to make some phone calls to some people about a teaching internship in Seattle."

"Good luck," Jacob said.

"Thanks," I said as I took off back to the houses of La Push.

I stopped in to let Emily know what was going on, and then headed back to my house. The phone calls didn't take too long, it was just a few arrangements and details that I needed to line up. I was going to be starting a part-time teaching internship at a large K-12 school in Seattle this coming January. I would bounce all around throughout the grades so I could be prepared for what I would actually be doing when I was a teacher. I would be graduating out of college as a fully qualified teacher in only about two years. I had arranged to take several tests when I was in High School so I could count most of the classes I took as a Junior and Senior as college courses. That put me a good year-and-a-half ahead of all the other college freshman, therefore qualifying me to be a student teacher. If I worked hard and kept up my college course schedule, I should be out of school in no time.

I had taken off a week of classes for our honeymoon, speaking to my professors beforehand and literally doing a week's worth of classes for one subject in a couple of hours. Since I was enrolled in about nine subjects, it had only taken me a couple of days to complete a week of college. I liked how free you were in college, with no one to tell you what you can and can't do. I had classes tomorrow of course, which to me just translated into time away from Jacob. It was horribly boring when I wasn't with him, and I missed him terribly.

Our front door opened at about nine, and Jacob walked in. "Hey," he said.

"Hi," I told him.

He sighed. "Well… that was unexpected." He sat down next to me where I was on the couch. "I missed you." He told me as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

"Mm," I said. "I missed you too." I planted my lips on his. "Our night was cut a little short, huh?"

"Uh-huh," he agreed. He paused. "Do you think it worked?" he whispered.

"Hmm," I said. "I guess we'll just have to wait to find out now, won't we?"

He groaned. "How long?"

"Oh, you know, about three weeks."

He groaned again. "Man, that's a long time."

"It'll fly by," I told him. "I promise." I was quiet for a minute. "Are you scared?"

"Terrified," he admitted. "But honey, I would be terrified I this was going to be a normal pregnancy."

I sighed. "I guess we shouldn't worry about the future, you know? We don't know what this baby will be like, or what kind of life it will have. We can't worry about all of the what if's."

"You're right," he agreed. "But Nessie, let's be real. This baby will _not_ have a normal life, ever. It'll have a good life, but it won't be a normal one."

I leaned my head onto his chest and sighed again. "I know," I said. "Just promise me you'll be there, and that's all I need."

He pulled me off of him and held my face so I would have to look him in the eye. "I promise, I will _always_ be there."

A thought occurred to me that stopped my heart beating for a second. I stiffened in his arms. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Jacob," I said, almost in tears. "What if… what if this baby isn't immortal?"

He froze as well. "Oh… god," he said, and he closed his eyes. The reality of what might be happening was hitting us both in the face. If the baby wasn't immortal… we would both have to be able to live through losing a child. Forever was a very long time to grieve… and I didn't know if we could do it.

"Do we still want to do this?" I asked, the fear dominant in my voice.

"We might not have a choice," he reminded me.

"Oh my gosh," I said, and the tears started falling.

"Sh, honey don't cry," he said.

I tried to stop as he started rocking me. "Ok," I said taking a deep breath. Whatever was going to happen now, we were just going to have to live with.

He took a deep breath too. "Ness…. Honey….Baby, even I'm not completely immortal, you know that right?"

I started crying again. "But… Jake… I always thought you had the choice."

"I do honey, I do."

"Then don't ever leave me!" I begged of him hysterically. The whole 'staying calm' thing was _not _working.

"I won't Ness. I just needed to make sure you knew that. C'mon now, let's try to look at this logically. What are the possibilities of this baby being immortal?"

I took another deep, collective breath. "Ok," I said. "Let's see. A quarter of a totally immortal gene."

"Or maybe half of one," Jacob said. "You're completely immortal. Doesn't that mean this baby would have half of one?"

"Good point," I said with a sniff. "And… Well, I don't know how much of an immortal gene the baby will inherit from you."

"Right," he said. "I guess it all depends on if the wolf gene carries on or not, you know?"

I put my head on his shoulder. "Well…" I said. "I feel like… at least this baby has a chance at being immortal, you know?"

"I'd say a pretty good one," Jacob agreed.

"One question," I told him. "What baby are we talking about? I'm not even pregnant yet."

He smiled at me. "Good point."

"Do you still want to do this?" I asked him.

"Only if you do."

I thought extremely hard about it, running all of the possibilities through my head. "I guess…" I said a minute later. "It would be better to have a baby… and possibly lose it… than to never have one at all."

He nodded. "That's exactly what I was thinking." I buried my face in his chest and let him comfort me until I was calm again. Whatever was going to happen would happen, and we'd just have to live with it.

"So," I said, changing subjects. "How's Bryce?"

"He'll be okay. He's a good kid; he reminds me a lot of Sam. We're having a bonfire tonight over on that cliff top we always have them on. That way he can just meet everyone at once."

"That's a good idea," I said. "But isn't it supposed to be cold tonight?"

"Oh please," he scoffed. "No one is going to be cold with sixteen wolves, you, and a fire there."

"Right," I said. "What do we need to get?"

"About twenty bags of potato chips."

"Okay then," I said. "I guess we're going into town then, huh?"

"Mhm," he told me. "You should invite your family to the bonfire."

"I should," I said, agreeing. "I'll call them."

At about five o'clock that afternoon, Jacob and I hopped in my Charger and started over for the cliff top. We weren't the first there; Sam and Emily had beaten us there with their kids. We parked my car and walked over to them. I was immediately swarmed by two little pairs of arms hugging me, and one very toddling baby holding onto my legs shrieking happily.

I knelt down to hug all three of them, sweeping Alli up into my arms as I stood up. I kissed three little heads before taking Alli with me to go sit by Emily where she was stoking the fire. Jacob was helping Sam get the food table set up on a long piece of plywood we laid out over two table stands. "Long time no see," I told her.

"Oh yeah," she agreed sarcastically. "Six hours is like a life time."

"Right," I said. "So how are you feeling?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Okay I guess. The morning sickness isn't as bad as it used to be. It'll probably only last through like… next week. I hope it won't last any longer than that at least."

"Well that's good," I said. "Are you excited?"

She raised her eyebrows and smiled. "About giving birth? Nope, not at all. About being a mommy again and having another baby? Oh yeah."

"Answer me truthfully," I said. "Does it hurt as bad as they say it does?"

She laughed. "Well… I mean… People deal with pain in different ways. The first baby is the worst, and the second isn't very fun. After you do it a couple of times though it just becomes about how much endurance for pain you have and how well you deal with it."

"I see," I said, nodding. "So Brooke…"

"Is my hero," she finished for me.

I laughed. "Nice," I said.

"Oh yeah," she said. "Anybody who gives birth to twins naturally the first time they have a baby is definitely within my hero radar."

I nodded my head and shifted my attention to Alli who was silently wrapping her hands around my curls, completely absorbed. She was as beautiful as her mother, yet I knew she had a mind like her father's. She looked up and giggled at me as she saw that I was watching her. She kept her hands in my hair, and quickly turned her attention back to that. I loved Alli, but she wasn't mine.

In that moment, I knew. I knew that no matter what, I wanted a baby to call my own. A pang of guilt ran through me for a half a second, but I didn't let it overcome me. If this was selfish on my part, then so be it. I _could_ have a baby, and I _would_ have one.

The others were starting to arrive now. My family was coming, but they would be late. My parents had work tonight and I knew the others wouldn't come without them. Alli started climbing out of my arms as soon as her fellow toddlers started to arrive. I set her down and she ran towards Madi, who was in Embry's arms and holding a baby doll.

She squealed as Alli ran towards her and Embry set her down. They were both absorbed with the baby doll in minutes. Leah and Joel pulled up in Joel's old blue truck and they both got out and started pulling kids out of car seats. Alexis went over to Kristin and they started talking a million miles a minute to each other.

Cole and Jenny were both hanging back toward their parents tonight. I guess they were at that age where boys and girls just didn't play together any more. They'd grow out of it… Kelsey was playing with Alli and Madi, and Jenny watched them carefully. Joshua, Marcus, and Cole were playing together as well, and Nick was keeping his eyes glued on them.

Brandon and David were running around together, and Sam had his eyes on those two. You never knew what could happen when you added two little boys, a cliff top, and a fire together. We started cooking piles and piles and piles of hot dogs. I helped get the kids fed so their parents could actually eat. There was laughter, and talking, and teasing.

My parents got there around six thirty, bringing the rest of my family with them. I hadn't seen my parents since my wedding day. When my father climbed out of his Volvo with my mom, I realized how much my life had changed. Had this happened to Bryce a month or so ago, I would have been getting out of the car with them.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

"Mom," I said, almost in shock. "Dad."

"Nessie," they both said at the same time.

"I missed you," I told them, as I stood up for a hug.

"Oh, baby," my mom said. "You don't even know the half of it."

They both had their arms around me now. "You know," my dad said. "We didn't know what to do without you there. We've never lived in that house alone."

"Hm," I said. "I'm sure you guys found _something_ to do."

"Oh yeah," my mom said. "We played cards."

I started laughing at her joke, until I realized she wasn't kidding. "Oh my gosh," I said. "You're serious aren't you?"

"Oh maybe," my dad said. "Or maybe we didn't."

"I love you," I told them.

"I love you too," they both said at the same time.

"Look Edward," my mom said. "I am still taller than her."

"You're right," my dad said. "We were having an argument about that a few days ago," he explained to me.

I sighed as I let go of them and we made our way over to the circle around the fire. I sat down next to Jacob and he grabbed my hand.

"You know what we did the first night you weren't there?" My dad asked.

"Besides 'playing cards'?"

He ignored my remark. "We had an 'I hate what Jacob Black did' party."

"Ouch, that stung," Jacob pretended.

"Yeah, it was a pretty lonely party," my mom said. "We just sat there and looked at pictures from when you were a baby."

"Wow," I said, thinking about what I had been doing on that night.

"WHOA!" my dad said.

I swore. "Sorry!" I apologized.

"Nu-huh!" He yelled. "No! Don't even go there!"

"Sorry," I said.

"Yeah, sure you are," he said sarcastically. "That's just lovely Nessie."

"Uh-huh," I said. "Drop the subject please."

"Mm," he said.

Jacob had his face in his hands and his shoulders were shaking from his silent laughter. I playfully hit him sharply on the shoulder. "Not funny," I told him.

He tried to stop laughing, but it didn't work. "Sorry," he said. "But that was funny."

"No, it was disturbing and violating," my dad said. He put his face in his hands. "My _eyes_…" he moaned.

"Here," my mom said. I physically felt her shield wrap around me for the briefest of seconds as it hit my mind, and then it was absorbed into my brain and it felt natural. "Mom fixes everything," she said.

"Yes, honey, you do," my father said. "But I'm going to be haunted with that for the rest of my life."

"Oh," she said, flinging an arm around his shoulders. "It'll be okay."

"I know," he sighed, sitting up and wrapping his arm around her waist.

Bryce was not a usual new werewolf. He was impeccably more calm than any of the new werewolves I had seen, and he was very quiet. I almost wondered what was running through his mind behind his quiet eyes, but I knew if I was my father, I probably wouldn't want to know.

Bryce looked like a classic Quileute teenage boy. When I had seen him in the woods earlier today his hair had been slightly longer, but had recently been cut short. His face was still slightly boyish like Wyatt's. He was _way _more muscled than any fourteen-year-old ever should be, and he was already reaching for the six foot mark in height. He seemed shy, though I assumed that was something he would grow out of in the next few months.

He looked like Brooke and Kaylie about as much as Jacob looked like his twin sisters. He was sitting by Collin right now roasting a hot dog, and he was smiling at something I hadn't heard Collin say. Kaylie was next to Collin of course, and she was laughing too. He still looked out of place. I felt bad for him. He was stuck at the end of a very long line of great people who he would have to try and live up to. It was a hard position to be in.

Julia had brought her guitar and was strumming away at it mindlessly, though the sound it made was still incredibly beautiful. She was talking to Connor about something that I couldn't hear, but they were both smiling. Andrea and Zach were playing a _very_ fast card game and words were flying. Carlisle and Esme were ever calm and quiet, mostly just listening to what was going on around them, but not engaging in conversation. Alice and Jasper were talking to my parents at the moment. Rosalie and Emmet were listening in on their conversation.

"I was thinking," Carlisle said suddenly. A few people looked up to see what he was going to say. He put his hands together. "When the Volturi were here…" he started. This immediately grabbed more people's attention, and the circle grew quieter. "We explained to them how the Quileute's aren't werewolves, their shape shifters."

There was silence. "Ok," my mom said. "Where are you going with this?"

"Well," he said. "The point was brought up that it just so happens that they turn into wolves, and not something else. I've been thinking… what if there's another race, or culture, or religion out there that shape shifts into something else? Is it even a realistic possibility?"

There was complete silence around the fire. Carlisle had a way of doing that to people. "Um," my dad started. "I suppose there's no reason why what you're saying couldn't be legit. Though I don't see how it's likely. We know people all around the world and none of them have ever been exposed to something like this before."

"Right," Carlisle said. "It was just a thought."

"Well it's definitely something to think about," Sam said. I looked at him. "Imagine," he said. "There being people out there who turn into something like… tigers or something. Or a bird of some kind." He shivered slightly. "That creeps me out."

"I wish I knew if there was something out there like that," I said. "I wish I knew if there was something out there that was… _like this_. Something out there that was close to whatever _this_ is."

"I guess we all wish we knew the unknown," Jacob said. "But that's why it's called the unknown."

"Wow," Embry said. "There you have it, the words of a genius."

The conversation broke off into several different smaller ones, and I leaned my head on Jacob's shoulder. He put his arm around me. His hand squeezed my side, and I felt his heat rushing up my nose.

"How many classes do you have tomorrow?" He asked me.

"Just two," I said. "I'll be home around one probably."

"When is your first one?"

"Seven. It's actually a field trip for one of my teaching classes. There are only three of us. We're going to go observe an advanced placement class at the public school that's not too far from the University. Then I'm going to my music ed. class. We're learning how to play the world's most obnoxious instrument this week; the trumpet."

"Ouch," he said. "Early start then, huh? What time do you want up?"

"Ugh," I said. "How about four?"

"That works out well," he said. "I'm running patrol from one until four this morning. I'll just wake you up when I get in."

I tapped his back. "You _have_ to _go_ to _sleep_ after you wake me up," I told him. "You don't sleep enough."

"Hey now," he said. "I'm fine."

"Uh-huh," I said. "You better go back to sleep after you wake me up."

"'Kay," he said with a sigh. "Whatever you say honey," he mocked jokingly.

I smiled.

The next four months of Jacob and I's marriage passed in laughs, happiness, and being totally in love. My monthly friend came month after month, and we were starting to get worried something wasn't right. I thought it was probably because we were both so exhausted, we weren't trying hard enough.

I had confided in my mother one night that Jacob and I had decided to try to have a baby. She didn't try to talk me out of it, or tell me I was wrong, she just gave me a hug and told me good luck. I knew she would tell my dad, but I didn't care. I wondered what their opinions were on the subject. I knew that if they thought it was wrong, they would tell me, but did they think it was selfish? That was what I couldn't be sure of. It didn't matter any way. I respected my parents, and their opinions, but this was a decision Jacob and I had made together, and I knew they would support me on it.

Emily and Leah kept getting bigger and bigger, and they were both a month into their third trimester on the day that it happened. I had been counting down the days until Mother Nature came to visit me, hoping this month she wouldn't.

She didn't come the day she was supposed to. Or the day after that, or the day after that. I didn't let myself get my hopes up as I bought a pregnancy test at the drugstore in town. Jacob was running patrol on Saturday when I closed the bathroom door behind me, locked it, and took the test.

I waited. And waited, and waited. This was the first time I had taken a pregnancy test, because it was the first time there had ever been need to. Just when I thought I couldn't stand the waiting any longer, my twenty minutes was up. I cautiously picked up the pregnancy test, half afraid of what I would see.

A plus sign.

My rapid heartbeat stopped.

Positive.

I was pregnant. There was a baby growing inside me. I contained my shriek of excitement. This was possibly the most life changing thing that had ever happened to me. My breathing was coming rapidly as a smile spread across my face. I _had_ to tell somebody. I looked at the clock. Jacob wasn't going to be done running for another two hours. That was a _long_ time away!

I grabbed my keys, and the test, and I drove probably the fastest I have ever driven over to my parent's house. I roared into their driveway and squeaked to a stop, barely parking. I jumped out of the car with the test in one of my hands.

My mom was out the door before I was even up the steps.

"Let me see, let me see, let me see!" She half-yelled as she ripped the test out of my hand.

She paused for the merest half-second as she read the test. She squealed. "Ness!" She yelled throwing her arms around me. "Oh my gosh!"

My dad pushed his way past several of my family members who had gathered in the doorway until he was standing by me and my mother. He gently pulled her off of me.

"Renesmee," he said. "Tell me the truth. Are you pregnant?"

I smiled at him. "Uh-huh," I said, nodding.

He took one deep breath, and then smirked at me. "What the _hell_ took you guys so long?"

He threw his arms around me and I laid my head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of my head. "Oh my gosh," he said, sounding just like my mom. "My baby's having a baby. For the love of all things holy…"

"Edward!" my mom said, still half-yelling.

"What?" He half-yelled back, letting go of me.

She took a hold of his hands. "We're going to be grandparents."

I watched as his mouth fell open slightly. He swore. "We are!" he said.

"I'm too young to be a grand-mother!" My mom told him, astonished. "I'm only twenty-seven!"

"Yeah, well I'm only nine," I said back. "I think that qualifies as too young to be a mother."

"Come here," my mom said, wrapping her arms around me again. "It's going to be okay. Whatever goes wrong is going to be okay."

"Okay," I said, and I felt my dad wrap his arms around both of us. "Whatever you say."

"Where's Jake?" My dad asked.

"Running patrol with Caleb."

"You told him you were pregnant and he just went to run patrol?" he asked.

"No," I said. "I just found out about ten minutes ago, he doesn't know."

"You haven't told him you're pregnant?" my mom said loudly in my ear.

"No…"

"Then why are you here?" she said letting go of me. "Go home! Wait for him! He's going to want to know this!"

"Tell him I said congratulations," my dad added.

"Right," I said. "I'll call you later," I promised as I climbed in my car. "I love you!"

"Love you too," they both said at the same time as I started to drive away. I blew a kiss out the window.

When I pulled into La Push, I knew I couldn't just sit at home and wait for Jacob. I knew Emily would be home right now, so I parked in front of her house, and, bringing the test with me, walked up to her front door.

I knocked quietly, knowing that it was naptime. She let me in, and I could hear a movie of Jenny's playing quietly in their small living room.

"Hi," she said. She looked tired, and definitely pregnant.

"Hey," I said breathlessly. I silently held up the pregnancy test.

She looked at it for one second before the realization hit her. Her face lit up and she smiled. "You're pregnant?" she asked?

I nodded. She squealed and opened her arms for a hug. I walked into them, and could feel her baby move against my stomach from inside hers. I had happy tears running down my face at the moment.

"I didn't know you guys were trying!"

"Yeah," I said, trying to wipe my eyes. "We've been trying since we got married."

She paused. "If you don't mind me asking…" she took a deep breath. "What's this baby… going to be like?"

My smile fell slightly. "We don't know," I said. "But… we're trying not to do what-if's, you know? We're just trying to go with it."

"By all means," Emily said. "I'm so happy for you guys! I just want you to know, right now, that if you guys ever need _anything_, just call us, and we'll be there."

"Thank-you," I said as a new round of tears came to my eyes. "So much."

She wrapped me in her arms again. "Have you told Jake?"

"Not yet," I said. "He's running patrol right now."

"Oh," she said. "Do you want to come in?"

"Oh why not?" I said. "It's either wait for him here with you or wait for him alone at our house."

Sam walked out of one of the bedrooms of the house as we walked into the kitchen.

"Nessie!" he whispered really loudly.

"What?" I whispered back loudly.

"You're pregnant?"

"Yeah!" I said, nodding.

"Alright!" he said. He grabbed me in his arms and spun me around. "That's great!"

He set me back on my feet. "I know," I said. I sighed. "I haven't told Jacob yet…" I muttered. "This could get interesting."

"He'll be happy," Sam promised.

"I know," I said. I smiled. "Now I just have to wait for about another…" I looked at my watch. "Hour until Jacob gets done running patrol." I sighed again. "That's a long time."

"Well," Emily said. "I'd bet my next and last paycheck before I go on maternity leave that my kids will be asleep for another two hours. We could talk if you want."

We were sitting at her kitchen table now, and I put my head face down on the hardwood. "Yep," I said from that position. "I want to talk." I sat up.

She laughed. "Are you scared?"

"Yes," I said immediately, almost before she had finished her sentence.

She laughed again. "It's okay," she said. "I think that's pretty normal… What are you afraid of?"

I closed my eyes and opened them. I took a deep breath. "I'm mostly afraid of what's coming immediately after this… How fast is this baby going to grow? Is it going to be stronger than me? Will I be stronger than it? Will I hurt it? What if I can't hunt? What if it doesn't want blood? What if it _does _want blood…?" I trailed off again. "Oh my gosh," I put my head in my hands. "_How_ is this baby going to be born? Oh my... Well this is either going to hurt some, a lot, or more than a lot."

"It's going to hurt a lot," Emily said.

"Or," I said. "It could hurt more than a lot."

She gave me a questioning look. "O…kay?"

I looked up at her. "Do you know how I was born?"

"Not really," she said.

"I ripped and clawed my way out of my mother's body. I think that qualifies as hurting more than a lot."

Emily winced. "Yeah… yeah that would hurt more than a lot."

I nodded. "Let's just hope that's not how _this_ baby wants to be born."

"That would _suck_," Sam said.

I looked at him sarcastically. "No Sam, it would be great."

He raised his hands up. "Stating the obvious," he explained.

I nodded. "I'm excited though too," I added. "And really_, really_ happy." I smiled.

"I'm really, really happy for you guys too," Emily told me. "You guys deserve to have kids."

"Kid_s_," I said, emphasizing the s. "Let's just start with kid."

She laughed. "Okay," she said. "Sorry. I know it can be over whelming."

The rest of the hour flew by. Emily and I talked, and Sam went outside and shoveled the driveway from the late February snow we had been getting. Shoveling the driveway went a whole lot faster when you were one-hundred-and-eight degrees. Trust me, I would know.

It wasn't long before I could hear Jacob coming up the driveway. He had found me here with his nose I was sure. I looked out the window. He was shirtless, and it made me shiver, even though I knew he wasn't cold. He said hi to Sam, and Sam kept his face completely straight when he waved a hello back.

Emily got up to open the door for him with a smile at me, and I stayed sitting at the kitchen table. "Hi," she said to him as she opened the door.

"Hi," he said. "I think I'm right in believing that my wife is here?"

"Hm, I think you're right." He came into the house, wiping his wet, bare feet on the welcome rug.

I stood up from the kitchen table, and leaned in the doorway between the kitchen and the entryway. "Hey," I said.

"Hey," he said. He wrapped me in his arms and I held on tight, burying my face in his warm chest. I almost started crying again.

"So," I said. I took a deep breath, still hiding my face in his chest. "I have something to tell you," I muttered.

"Hm," he said. "I have something to tell you too."

"And what is that?"

"I love you."

I laughed a little at the irony of the situation. "I love you too," I told him. I took a deep breath. "And I know someone else who loves you just as much as I do."

"Oh really? And who is that?"

I paused for only a second. "Our baby." I waited for the news to sink in.

"Well I hope our baby will love me," he said. "Whenever we actually _have_ one."

He didn't understand. I took another deep breath. "Right," I said. I pulled away from him. "Our baby," I pointed at my stomach. "Loves you." I held the pregnancy test up to his face for him to see.

I observed his reaction. His face went from calm, to confused, to shocked, to smiling. "Ness…" he trailed off. I pulled the test down from his face and stuck it in my back pocket. "You're pregnant!" he said, picking me up off of my feet and swinging me around. "Finally!"

I was half laughing, half crying. He was squeezing me very tightly. He set me back onto my feet. "Oh, wow," he said. "I'm scared."

"Me too," I told him. "I don't even know… I don't even have… Oh my gosh…" I put my head on his chest. "Do me a favor."

"What's the favor?"

"Cover my eyes and don't take your hands off of them until this is all over."

He laughed. "It's going to be okay Nessie," he told me.

"Uhhuh," I said. "This is going to hurt."

"Probably."

"_Great_," I muttered. "On the bright side, I already told my parents."

"That's good," Jacob said. "How did they react?"

"My mom _completely_ lost it. I mean she was like totally freaking out. My dad was okay though, he was happy for us. He says congratulations."

"Hm," Jacob said. "That sounds just like your parents to me."

"We have to tell your dad. And my grandpa and Sue. And the rest of your pack. Leah's going to flip." I laughed as I leaned up and kissed him on the lips. "We're going to be _parents_."

"I know," he said. "Sam?" he called louder.

"What?" Sam called from the entryway. He had practically followed Jacob inside.

"I'm going to be a dad."

Sam paused. "Well good luck with that…"

Jacob snickered. "This could be fun…"

About two hours later we had finished telling everyone that I was pregnant. I had been right, Leah literally freaked out. There was screaming, and shrieking, and oh-my-goshing from both of us. Wyatt had been at Leah and Joel's house when we came over and he had done a good impression of Leah by screaming and jumping around. Billy had been with Sue and my grandpa when we had told them. All three of them had laughed hysterically when we told them, and were still laughing hysterically when we left.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

The first week of my pregnancy went pretty normally. If you asked me, I couldn't even tell I was pregnant. At the end of my first week, we went over to the big white house so I could get my first ultrasound. It was just my parents and Carlisle and Esme home on the afternoon that we came over. "Hi," I said as we walked up the front steps.

"Hi," my mom said joyfully. "Are you ready for this?"

"Oh… why not?" I said.

"You sound like your father," she told me.

"I've heard that before."

"Jacob!" she said suddenly.

"What?"

"You're going to be a dad! Ha!"

He gave her a smirk. "Look who's talking grandma."

"Ouch," she said sarcastically. "That hurt."

Esme waved at me from where she was in the living room as we walked past. My dad and Carlisle were already in his office.

"Hey," they said at the same time as my mom led the way into the room. I smiled.

"You can go ahead and hop up onto the table," my dad told me. He gave a short laugh. "This is going to be _weird_."

"Probably," I agreed.

Carlisle had already flipped on the ultrasound when I jumped up onto the table and leaned back. "You know," Carlisle said. "I'm going to tell you the truth Ness; this probably isn't going to work."

I raised my eyebrows. "Okay… why not?"

Carlisle sighed. "Well, we found out when your mom was pregnant with you that ultrasounds don't work through vampire skin, which is what your mom's womb was made of. We've never figured out the actual genetics of your skin, but we've always assumed it's as tough as vampire skin. So I'm just assuming this won't work, I could be wrong."

"Oh," I said. "Okay then."

He squirted ultrasound gel on my stomach. My dad handed him the ultrasound wand, and he put the smooth end of it on my abdomen. We all watched the screen.

Nothing. There weren't even fuzzy gray lines on it. I felt… disappointed. Though, it was what was to be expected.

"Okay," Carlisle said, taking the wand off my stomach. "Well, at least our assumptions were right."

"Yep," I said with a sigh. My mom threw a towel at me so I could wipe the extra ultrasound gel off.

"I was thinking," Carlisle said. "We don't really know… Well we don't really know anything about this baby. Or anything about what your pregnancy is going to be like. Or for that matter, how long you're even going to be pregnant."

"So…" I said. "We're working with an infinite variable?"

"Right," my dad said. "We have no idea what's going to happen, so we pretty much just have to let it play out as it happens."

"So what should _we _do?" Jacob asked, speaking for the first time.

"You guys will just have to be observant," Carlisle answered. "If you notice _anything_ strange, don't hesitate to call."

"Okay," I said. "Sounds simple enough."

"How are you feeling?" My mom asked.

"Normal," I answered immediately. "It's kind of unnerving."

"Oh don't worry," Carlisle said. "You won't be feeling normal in about a week or two."

I raised my eyebrows. "That's just… spectacular."

Jacob's cell phone rang. "Hello?" he answered.

I could tell it was Sam, but I wasn't paying attention enough to hear what he was talking about. I was thinking about what Carlisle meant about not feeling normal soon. Jacob pulled the phone away from his ear a second later but didn't hang up. "Do you want to babysit tonight?" He asked me.

"Sure," I said. "Who are we babysitting?"

"Who are we babysitting?" he asked Sam. Sam said something. "_All _of them?" Jacob asked. He pulled the phone away from his ear again. "Sam's three kids and Leah's three kids."

I raised my brows and dropped them again. "Why not?" I shrugged my shoulders and smiled. "We have nothing else to do."

"Okay," Jacob said. "When do you want us over there?"

Jacob hung up the phone a minute later after saying good bye. "Okay they want us there at one, and they don't know how late it will be until they get back."

"Where are they going?"

"I don't know, but I'm not asking."

"Why not?" I asked curiously.

"Because when those four do something together without their kids, it's not something you ask about."

"Okay," I said. "We'll leave it at that." I looked at my watch. "Well, we must have really been a last choice of babysitters, because we need to be there in about forty-five minutes."

I sat up and jumped off of the table. "Is it okay if we go?" I asked. "We should pick up some stuff from our house before we head over there."

"Yep," Carlisle said. "Call if anything seems strange to you."

"Okay," I said. "I'll talk to you guys later."

Exactly forty-five minutes later Jacob and I were walking into Sam and Emily's house. Their house was a little larger than Joel and Leah's, so we naturally assumed that we would be babysitting there. Sure enough, when we walked in the door, there were already four adults, four kids, and two toddlers running around. I didn't know where the adults were going, but they weren't really dressed up for it. Then again, Joel and Sam had shirts on… so that was dressing up in itself for them.

"Hi," Leah said as we came in.

"Hi," I said back.

"Um," Leah said. "I set out the stuff you'll need for dinner. And Emily already made up two bottles for Cole and Alli. Uh… but you know what, don't give them those until they're going down for bed. Use your best judgment for bedtimes. I generally speaking put them down when the tears start. Um… what else am I missing?" She searched her mind. "Oh yeah, there's not much of it here, but make sure Jenny doesn't eat anything soy." We had found out a couple of years ago that Jenny was allergic to soy.

"Right," I said. "Anything else?"

"Uh," she paused. "Oh," she laughed. "Sorry about this, but all six of them need baths tonight. We did not do that on purpose!" She smiled. "Anyway, it's good practice. You can just send Jenny and Nick to the shower by themselves. Just make sure they have all of their stuff, and that they know how to turn on the water. You can use both of the bathrooms."

"Got it," I said. "They have their pajamas and stuff?"

"Yep," she said. "And we don't care where they sleep. If you want to have them camp out in the living room, or make them sleep in drawers in the kitchen, it's all okay with us."

I laughed. "Right. If we want to put them in drawers, it's okay."

Leah nodded. "Pretty much. And we all have our cell phones on us."

"Okay," I said. "Hope you have a good time."

Leah raised her eyebrows at me. "Uh, yeah okay."

I hesitated. "Well aren't you going to have fun?"

"Uh… sure." Now I raised my eyebrows at her. "You don't want to know," she said.

I nodded. "You know what; you're right, just go."

"Okay," Leah said a little louder. "Mommy and daddy are leaving."

All three of Leah's kids jumped up immediately from where they were playing and ran to give their parents kisses. Alli was clinging to Emily, and Cole was trying his hardest to suffocate his mother by holding on as tight as he could. I had heard them talking about how clingy those two had been lately. This could be bad in about one minute…

"Good bye," Jenny was saying in her little voice. "I'll take care of the kids."

Sam was laughing at his oldest daughter. "Thank- you sweetie, you be a good girl okay? We'll be back when you wake up."

"Okay," she said. "I love you." She gave both of her parents a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Brandon was doing the same thing, and Sam knelt down lower for his only son. Alli still clung to Emily.

"Make sure you help Nessie and Jake with the babies, okay Nick?" Leah was saying.

"Okay," Nick said. "When will you come back?"

"We'll be back when you wake up sweetie."

"Okay," he said. "Good bye, love you." He was kissing his parents and Lexi followed suit.

Cole was a quiet little boy, and I wasn't surprised seeing as he followed a sister who was as loud and independent as a hurricane. He wasn't making any noise, but I could see he was already crying as he held on even tighter to his mother.

"Alright," Joel said. "We gotta get out of here."

"Okay," Leah was saying. "Cole," she said. He didn't respond, not even a flinch. "Cole, sweetie, mommy and daddy have to go, but we'll be back when you wake up. You'll have a good time with Jacob and Nessie, okay?"

He said nothing. I knew what was coming, for both Alli and Cole. Leah took a deep breath. "Right," she said. She nodded to me, and I held my arms out for Cole.

"Come here Cole," I said. "Come on," he didn't move and Leah started to pry Cole from her and he started to fuss. Jacob was over with Emily and she ripped Alli off of her.

"Mommy," Cole cried weakly as I pulled him, struggling, into my arms.

Leah didn't look back as Joel grabbed her hand and pulled her out to the car, and Sam and Emily were soon to follow. Cole and Alli were both absolutely sobbing, and I pushed the door shut with my foot, pulling Cole away from watching his parents drive away.

"Sh, sh, Coley it's okay, it's okay," I said, pulling him around so that I could hold him easier. Jacob was struggling to distract Alli as he brought her into another room.

"Look Cole," I said, pointing out the back window at the dim afternoon light barely shining through the clouds. "Can you see any animals out there? I see a birdie; do you see the birdie sweetheart?" He looked for the bird, still crying.

"Birdie," he said, his tears were slowing.

"Yeah," I said. "What else do you see?"

"Woof," he said clumsily, pointing out the window.

I followed his finger, and saw Caleb and Kaylie's gigantic wolf forms staring out from the woods. I gave both of them a look, and Kaylie pulled her lips back, smirking at me.

"That's right Cole," I said. "That is a wolf."

I walked him away from the window, and I heard Jacob helping Alli play a board game with the older girls.

"Down," Cole said. He started to squirm out of my arms, his mother and father's absence long forgotten.

I put him on the ground, and followed him into Brandon's room. A thought occurred to me; Cole and Alli were probably so attached to their mothers because they knew they were pregnant. It was cute in a way, they knew their territory was about to be invaded, so they were enjoying it while they could. I smiled to myself.

Nick and Brandon were playing with an entire box of little toy racecars. Cole started working his way into their playing, and he toddled over to the box, pulling a car out and starting to push it around. "Aw, Coley, did you stop crying?" Nick said.

"Yeah," I told him. "He just misses your mommy and daddy."

"Where are they going?" Nick asked me.

"I don't know," I told him honestly. "But they'll be back before you know it."

"Okay," he said.

These kids could literally play together for hours. Not a single fight or disagreement broke out between any of them in the first four hours of watching them. After the first two hours of them playing nicely together, I had turned on Sam and Emily's computer and typed up a quick paper for my teaching class on a video we had just watched. It was incredibly easy to change my notes from note form into paper form. I was done in less than an hour. I did most of my homework either in between classes or, if Jacob was driving me, on the way to and from the university.

By five it was already getting dark outside, and I decided it was probably time to get started on dinner.

"Hey Jake?" I said as I walked into Jenny's room.

"Yeah?" He looked up, and I felt my heart melting into his.

"I think it's probably time we got dinner going. Do you want to cook or keep an eye on the kids?"

"I'll keep an eye on the kids if you don't care."

"I don't care," I assured him. "I'll tell you when it's time to get them washed up and stuff."

"Okay," he said. "Love you."

"Love you too." I made my way into the kitchen and looked to see what I was making. Macaroni and cheese with canned fruit cocktail, milk, and pre-packaged pudding for desert. Easy. Leah and Emily doubted my cooking skills.

I pulled out the pot for the macaroni and got it going on the stove. While the macaroni cooked I set the table, dished the fruit cocktail into bowls, and poured the milk into sippy cups for the little kids and regular cups for the older kids. As soon as I finished cooking the macaroni, I spooned it onto the plates and made sure everyone had a fork.

"Ok, Jake," I called. "Dinner's ready."

"Alright," Jacob called back. I heard him start getting the kids up and sending them all to the bathroom to wash their hands. They all started filing in one by one, and sat down at whatever seat they seemed to think they belonged at.

Cole stood at the foot of one of the high chairs, completely silent, until Jacob lifted him into it. Alli made a little more noise, calling for Jacob until he lifted her up too. Dinner was short, and all of the kids ate their food with no problem. They were all excited when I pulled the pudding cups out of the refrigerator.

Jacob helped me pass around the spoons and peel back the lids, and they were all content within minutes. We made a good team.

We sent the kids to play while Jacob and I cleaned up the kitchen. He put things in the dishwasher and threw the garbage away as I swept and wiped down the table.

As I turned back around from putting the broom away, Jacob grabbed me by the hips and set me on the counter. My eyes were even with his.

"Jake," I gasped quietly.

"Hm," he said. It was a comment, not a response to my gasp. "So how are you beautiful?"

I smiled. "Never better."

"And how is our baby?"

I kissed his lips gently. "Your guess is as good as mine." I kissed him again. "But I'm sure the baby is fine," I kissed him yet again. "Now that his daddy's here, anyway."

He kissed me more passionately, and I let him, but only for a minute. "We have to take care of the kids," I whispered, pulling back.

"'Kay," he said, yet it took him a while to move away from me.

I was breathless as I hopped off the counter. "I was thinking," I said. "Maybe we could have a movie night with them tonight. I'm sure they'd like that. Especially if we make a big deal about it with popcorn and drinks and stuff you know?"

He nodded. "I like it." He looked at his watch. "It's six fifteen. Let's say we start the movie about seven thirty?"

"Good plan. We should start baths about… oh I don't know… six forty-five?"

"Sounds good to me," he said. "Maybe we should tell them what we're going to do though and stuff so they know why we're starting their baths so early."

"Okay," I said. "You go tell them."

He did as I told him and I could tell they were all excited. Well, at least Nick and Jenny were. Brandon and Lexi seemed to just feed off of their sibling's excitement. Cole and Alli didn't even react when Jacob started talking. I was enjoying observing these kids tonight. The way they reacted to different things at different ages, and how they reacted to each other even was very interesting to me. I wondered if _our baby_ would even be anything like them. There was so much unknown out there… so much that could go wrong with this baby's life.

I felt the tears come out of nowhere, and I quickly turned my back on the kids as I walked into the kitchen. I put my hands over my eyes and started to cry in earnest. I was completely silent, but Jacob knew I was crying anyway. He walked calmly into the kitchen just a minute or so behind me.

"Hey," he said quietly. "What's this now?" He was wrapping his arms around me.

I just leaned into him, keeping my hands over my eyes. "Why are you crying sweetheart?" He asked.

"I'm scared," I said weakly.

He held on tighter. "What are you scared of?" he asked gently.

I sniffed, but kept crying. "A lot of things," I muttered. "There's just… I'm scared of what happens next."

He sighed, and squeezed me even closer to him. "Oh," he said plainly. "You know what Nessie?" Jacob asked. "I'm scared too baby." He took a deep breath. "A lot."

I cried a little more on his chest, harder this time. I steadied myself some. "How do we get past all this fear?" I asked him.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I don't think we can, you know?"

I sobbed gently. "What are we going to do?"

He took a deep breath. "We're going to get through this," he said with determination. "I can promise you that."

"But _how_?"

"We're just going to take it day-by-day," he told me calmly, yet I felt him shutter beneath me. "We don't have anything to panic over yet. And when we do, _if_ we do, then Nessie, I'll be there. The whole time, I'll be there. We'll get through the scary parts together, remember?"

I nodded into his chest, and I felt my tears stopping as suddenly as they had started. "Hey Jake?" I said.

"Yeah?"

"I think we know that I'm most definitely pregnant."

He snickered slightly. "I think I just handled your first ever emotional meltdown quite well. Am I right?"

I sniffed. "Uh-huh," I said with a little giggle. "I'm sorry about that." I wiped my eyes. "Thank-you."

"Anytime," he said. "I'll be there."

I wrapped my arms around his chest, and wondered how long it would be before he couldn't hold me this closely anymore. "I love you," I said.

"I love you too," he promised.

We started baths about twenty minutes later. We sent Nick and Jenny first, figuring they would be able to wait the most patiently for the other kids to finish so we could start the movie night. Nick and Jenny were very independent children. They both brought everything they needed to the different bathrooms with them, and didn't need help finding anything. Jenny even came out with her incredibly long hair combed out and parted just off-center. Jenny carried her dirty clothes to a hamper, and Nick put his in the bag their mom had packed for them. All together, they only took about ten minutes.

Brandon and Lexi were a little different story. They both knew to grab their pajamas, but they both also forgot their clean underwear. Jacob took Brandon into Sam and Emily's bathroom and I took Lexi into the bathroom the kids used. She could get herself undressed well enough, but she didn't know how to turn the water on. Once she was in the bathtub she could wash her hair and her body, but had trouble rinsing. She also forgot the conditioner. I helped her with all of the things she couldn't do, and we talked, _a lot_. She had been a little motor-mouth since she was about a year old and hadn't quieted down since.

She couldn't comb out her hair at all, but she remembered her dirty clothes on the way out. Alli was completely codependent on me in the bathtub, but she babbled away the whole time. I could only understand brief moments of what she was saying, but it was adorable just the same.

We had all of the kids sitting down for the movie right on time. I made the popcorn while Jacob put _all_ of the drinks into sippy cups, so we wouldn't have to worry about anyone spilling. I prepared the bottles for the babies, hoping it might put them to sleep a little early. The movie we watched was a cute little G rated film with a few well known actors in it. Though it was rated G, it still had some adult humor in it that made Jacob and I crack up. As I had hoped, Cole and Alli didn't even make it through half of the film before they were asleep. They had fallen asleep lying right next to each other on a small blanket with their empty bottles put to the side.

The rest of the kids made it through the movie, though it was nearly nine-thirty before it was over. We left the babies on the floor as we walked two exhausted little kids, and two almost-tired older kids to bed. I helped Jenny climb into her bed, and kissed her on the head, telling her good night. She scooted herself over without me even asking her to, and Lexi climbed in right behind her. I kissed Lexi on the head as well, telling her good night, but she didn't even respond, asleep as her head hit the pillow. I flipped on the small night light as I left the room, leaving the door open so we could bring the babies in.

The crib that all three of Sam's children had slept in but was currently being used by Alli was pushed up against the opposite wall of Jenny's bed, along with a small changing table. I met Jacob in the middle of the hallway and we grabbed hands as we walked back out to the living room to get the babies. I carried a peacefully sleeping Alli and Jacob carried a completely silent Cole to the girl's room where we both bent over and gently laid them in the crib. They sighed contentedly at the same time, causing both Jacob and I to hold down laughs.

We made our way back out to the living room, where we laid down on the couch together. I put my head on his chest and closed my eyes. I hadn't been planning to go to sleep, but I knew there was no turning back as I fell into a welcome unconsciousness.

I was awakened what felt like minutes later by Sam and Emily's telephone ringing loudly. Jacob was already awake and gently sliding out from underneath me to answer the phone.

"Hello?" he said quietly. I sat up and wrapped my arms around my legs.

Joel's voice rang though the other end. "Jacob," he said. "Jacob, listen to me. There's been an accident. We were hit by a truck."

My heart dropped to the floor. "Everyone's okay, but Emily's being brought to the hospital. She was on the side of the car that the truck hit and was pinned in there until officials got here. She was conscious, but we think she might have broken her ankle. Leah and Sam and I are fine. We're going to the hospital with Sam to wait for news if you don't mind watching the kids any longer."

"Oh," Jacob said, completely shocked. "Wow. Um… Yeah, I mean sure we can watch the kids. Call us with news on Emily as soon as you can. We'll be waiting by the phone all night. Are you sure you're okay?"

"A little shook up, but we're fine. It was a semi that hit us. It was going slow, and so were we but it crushed the car in pretty badly and totaled it. We'll be okay though. If the kids wake up tell them we love them and that we'll be home soon."

"Okay," Jacob said. "And please man, call with any news."

"You got it," Joel said. "Bye."

Jacob hung up the phone, and we stared at each other in shock. "Oh my gosh," I said. "That's crazy."

"Just thank god they're okay," Jacob said. "That could've been so much worse…"

"I love you," I told him. "No matter what happens Jacob Black, I love you." I sighed. "All of that can be taken away from you _so_ quickly…"

"I love you too," Jacob said. "As long as the earth still spins, the sun still sets, the moon still rises, and the stars still shine I love you."

I smiled at him, then leaned in and kissed him for what could've been a whole eternity, or just a couple of minutes.

I wouldn't have noticed either way.


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN**

The phone rang again at about four am. I had been dozing on Jacob's chest, but this time he had kept the phone by us so he wouldn't have to move out from under me again. He was stroking the back of my hair when he answered the phone.

"Hello?" he said.

My head was pressed against his chest and I could hear Leah's voice ringing through the phone clearly. "Jake," she said. She sounded extremely tired, and pretty shaken up.

"Yeah, Leah, what's going on?"

She sighed. "Emily got a concussion when she smacked her head on the dashboard. She has a cracked rib from where the seatbelt locked on impact. Her ankle isn't broken, but it's pretty badly sprained. She'll be off of it for a while. She had to get seven stitches on one of the cuts from when the glass broke."

Jacob seemed to hesitate before asking the next question. "How's the baby?"

Leah sighed again. "Well, they ran ultrasounds after they taped up her broken rib. The baby had a steady heartbeat, with no changes in any of its vitals. Emily said she can feel the baby moving normally, so we're pretty sure that it's okay. They're both very fortunate, we all are."

"So what's the verdict? When can she come home?"

"They want to monitor her here for eighteen hours, so probably late tonight."

"Alright," Jacob said. "What do you need us to do?"

"Well," Leah said. "Seth is on his way up here right now to take me and Joel home. Sam is obviously going to stay up here with Emily. Joel and I can take all the kids as soon as we get back."

She sounded tired. "Leah," Jacob said. "You need to get better at the whole 'asking for help' thing. Both you and Joel do. You've both been up all night, and you're tired. Nessie and I can keep the kids while you guys get some sleep. Then we'll build from there. If you guys just want your kids we'll keep Sam and Emily's three. If you want to take all of them, go for it."

She took a deep breath. "Thank-you," she said. "So much."

"No problem. I know I'm going to regret asking this… but where exactly were you coming from when you got hit by the semi?"

"Oh," she said. "Um… well we were actually at a birthing class in Seattle. It was… well, it was very… informative. And pretty awkward. I would not recommend it."

Jacob clicked his tongue. "I'll remember that. See you in a few hours Leah."

"See you." They hung up the phone with each other.

"Well," Jacob said. "I think it's time that you and I both got some sleep, Mrs. Black. Before the kids wake up of course."

"I think you're right," I told him. I leaned up and gave him a peck on the lips. "Love you."

"Love you too."

He sank farther into the couch, stretching out some. I just moved with him, keeping my head on his chest. We were both completely unconscious within minutes.

The next conscious thought I had was that someone was tapping me. I opened my eyes slowly, as the events from a few hours ago rushed back into my mind. Lexi's face swam into my field of vision.

"Nessie," she said. It wasn't a question.

"Yes?" Jacob's breathing stayed slow and even underneath me. He was still asleep.

"Coley's crying," she informed me.

Sure enough, I could hear a faint crying from down the hall. "Ok," I said. I pushed myself up off of Jacob, making his eyes snap open. I grabbed Lexi's hand and we walked down the hall to Jenny's room. I could hear that the boys were awake in Brandon's room, though they were being very quiet. Alli was still sound asleep on the other end of the crib, but Cole was standing up crying. Jenny was asleep as well. I scooped Cole out of his crib, and he stopped crying almost as soon as I started rocking him.

I looked at the clock in their room. It was nine o'clock in the morning. They had all slept a long time.

"Are you ready to get up Coley?" I muttered to him. I kissed his head. "Yeah," I said. "C'mon," I told Lexi. "Let's go see what we can do for breakfast. Do you like pancakes?"

She smiled. "Yeah," she said.

"Maybe we can talk Jacob into making them for us."

"Okay," she said.

Sure enough, when Lexi asked him to, Jacob made a _ton_ of pancakes. Everyone was up by the time they were ready, and they all enjoyed them immensely. After everyone was dressed, beds were made, and had their hair and teeth brushed, it was nearing ten o'clock. It was a beautiful day outside, or at least as beautiful as it got on the Olympic peninsula. The late snow from the week before had melted into a warm spring. We decided to take the kids for a walk around La Push so they could burn off some of their energy.

I made sure that everyone had a sweatshirt or sweater on, and Jacob laced up shoes. I made the four older kids use the bathroom, and we were set to go. I held onto the babies hands, and we set off at a slow pace. Jenny and Nick were definitely leaders when it came to walking, and they pretty much knew where they wanted to go. They even acted as tour guides for some parts of the walk, pointing out all of the wolves' houses, along with Sue and Grandpa Charlie's house, and the school they attended. It was quite adorable.

The walk took us about an hour, even though I knew it would've only taken Jacob and I maybe twenty minutes. Joel and Leah pulled up to Sam and Emily's house as we were walking in the front door. Their kids were absolutely ecstatic to see them, running out the door into their waiting arms. As soon as Leah could round up Sam and Emily's kids, she sat them down and explained to them what had happened. Alli could obviously care less, and Brandon seemed very confused. Jenny was in tears when Leah told her that they had been in a car accident and that her mommy was in the hospital. She was comforted easily though. I think she was just at that age where everything scary in the world isn't always hidden from you anymore.

When Jacob and I got home, we literally walked in the door, walked to our room, and fell asleep. I woke up lying wrapped in his arms at around three in the afternoon. He woke up mere seconds after me, and he smiled when he saw me looking at him. I had a pretty packed day tomorrow as far as school goes, with five classes. Three of them were observatories; one was a lecture, and the other a hands-on experiment of sorts. The first observatory was with a large daycare to observe child development; the second observatory was in a High School honors class to learn how to challenge kids with overly intellectual minds, and the last was at an adult music group performance for children. My first lecture was my music education class. We were learning about all of the symbols and notes in music. In other words, I just had to look like I was paying attention while the teacher rambled on about things all musicians already knew. My hands-on experiment was actually with my child development class. We were being locked in a room with thirty-five kids, ages birth to sixteen, and we had to take care of them for two hours. There were only ten of us. The children shouldn't be difficult to take care of… but the teenagers might be interesting. This Friday we were discussing the experiment, and I was looking forward to that.

I went hunting that night, but Jacob stayed home. He liked to give me some time to myself. When I was walking up our driveway, thankfully being fully clothed this time, I saw Paul's car pull into Sam and Emily's house. I figured they must have called Paul to give them a ride home from the hospital when Emily was released. Jacob came out the front door.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," I said back.

"Do you want to go over there and see how Emily's doing?"

"That's just what I was about to ask you."

He linked his fingers through mine and we started walking over. It only took us a minute. When we walked up, Emily was climbing gingerly out of Paul's car, with Sam pulling her up by the hand. She smiled when she saw her kids waving out the window at her. The stitches didn't look too horrible, and they were on her arm. Better there than on her face… She limped fairly heavily on her ankle, though it was wrapped with a brace on it. Her cracked rib didn't seem to be bothering her to much, although I assumed it was wrapped pretty tightly. She could probably barely feel it. I could see the knot on her head from where she had smacked it on the dashboard, and wasn't a bit surprised that it had resulted in a concussion.

"Hey strangers," Jacob said as we walked up. "You're about a day later than when we were expecting you back."

Emily clicked her tongue. "Uh, yeah, this is a day later than it should've been. Were our children good?"

I waved my hand. "Oh please, we barely had to do anything. How are you?"

She shrugged a little. "I've had worse. _Way_ worse."

I smiled. "I'm glad." I looked at the window where the kids were still watching and waiting for their parents to go inside. "Now why are we standing outside? You have three kids in there waiting for you."

She laughed. "It's weird… I missed them even though I was only away from them for like a day."

"Ah," I said with another hand wave. "I hear it's normal."

"Right…" she said. "Are you staying for dinner?"

"Are you inviting us?"

"Yep. It's my thank-you to you."

"Then sure," I said. "But only if I can cook."

Her mouth fell open. "I'm inviting you to dinner at my house and you want to cook?"

"Yep, in your kitchen."

"That kind of eliminates the whole idea of the thank-you."

"Not in my opinion."

She squinted her eyes at me. "Well," she said. "Since I know that you're more stubborn than both of your parents put together, I'm not going to argue with you."

"Good choice," I said with a smile. "Because you wouldn't win."

I ended up making enough for food for Paul, Rachel, Kristin, Josh, Seth, Abbey, Sam, Emily, Jenny, Brandon, Alli, Joel, Leah, Nick, Lexi, Cole, and Jacob. It was one very crowded house when we all settled down to eat my chili, cornbread, and salad. I was told it was very good. I had used a recipe my parents had taught me when I was younger. The food smelled just right, and for once, it looked almost edible to me.

I didn't think anything of it at first. I just thought I had done an extra good job cooking the food. But then I remembered what Carlisle had told us about being alert for weird things. Wanting human food, _at all_, was definitely a weird thing.

"Jacob," I said.

He immediately turned his attention to me.

"Remember how we're supposed to be on the lookout for weird things?"

"Yeah what's going on?" he asked.

"Well," I said. "I… kind of want to eat the food I made."

He raised both of his eyebrows. "That is really weird. Do you want to call your dad?"

"Oh, why not?" I said.

I pulled out my cell phone, and dialed the familiar numbers. My father answered on the first ring.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hi," I said. "I've got something _weird_ going on."

"I see," he said. "What kind of weird?"

"I want to eat some of the food I made."

He was completely silent, and I started to worry. Jacob squeezed my shoulder gently.

"Um," My dad said. "Okay… uh…"

I heard him call Carlisle, and I got even more nervous.

I heard him speaking to Carlisle rapidly, and I heard my mom's soprano voice shoot into the conversation periodically. I grabbed Jacob's hand.

"Okay," my dad said again. "We think… well, we think that you should eat what you want. Have you hunted lately?"

"Just tonight," I told him.

"I see," my dad said. "And did you notice anything strange going on with that?"

"No," I told him. "I felt just like I always do."

My dad sighed. "Right," he said. "Well, you know what, if you want to eat the food, go for it. Eat what sounds good, not what sounds right."

"Okay," I said. "I'll do that. Thank-you, Dad."

"No problem sweetheart," he said. "Don't hesitate to call again."

"I won't," I promised. "I love you."

"Love you too."

We hung up the phone with each other.

I sighed. "Well…" I said. I looked at the bowl of chili in Jacob's hands. "I guess I'm going to try to eat chili."

"I guess it can't hurt anything," Jacob said, passing me his own bowl and spoon.

It felt weird to spoon the chili into my mouth. Once I closed my lips around the spoon, I knew I had done something right. The chili tasted _good_, delicious even. I could taste every individual spice, every individual herb. The chili felt warm and comfortable going down my throat.

"And…" Jacob said.

"It tastes…" the words felt strange coming out of my mouth in this context. "Good."

"Okay…" Jacob said. "Do you… want anything else?"

I thought about that. I took another bite of chili, and handed him back the bowl. There was a weird feeling in my mouth. It was something I had never felt before. It was almost like being thirsty… like when you don't hunt for a long time, but not near as intense. Jacob could see the confusion on my face.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I'm just…" I took a deep breath, and reached a conclusion on the weird feeling in my mouth. "I think I want some water."

He pushed his eyebrows together. "Are you sure about that?"

I nodded. He didn't argue, just passed me his water bottle. Once again, lifting the bottle to my lips felt strange, and unfamiliar. I took a few sips, and let the runny liquid drain down my throat. "Hmm…" I said. "That was strange for me."

Jacob nodded. I took a deep breath in through my nose. I jumped. Hands of fire were running their fingers down my throat. I felt the thirst deep in my veins, running through my bones, and making my head spin. The thirst was stronger than anything I had ever felt before. I could smell blood all around me, in all of the faces surrounding me, pulsing beneath their skin.

I held my breath in and I jumped to my feet. I was at the door when I turned to talk to Jacob. "Stay there," I said in a rush. Several people were watching me now. "Don't come after me." I gasped. I opened the door and got a whiff of fresh air. "I'll come back…"

I ran out the door as fast as I could and into the woods. As soon as I was in the trees, I fell to my knees, not even feeling the moisture in the ground soaking through my jeans. I took deep breaths of fresh, clean air, savoring it. I could smell a deer not far from here, and I immediately went after it. Animals couldn't run from me… not even if they tried. I felt satisfied after completely draining the animal of its blood, but I was physically shaking from the terrible thirst that had rocked me minutes before.

I took my time walking back to Sam and Emily's house, breathing the fresh air, and holding it inside of me. Usually human blood didn't bother me… if it bothered me at all. There were so many new things happening, so fast… It was absolutely petrifying. I stood outside the front door to Sam and Emily's house only a second longer than I normally would have, testing myself, just to be sure that the terrifying thirst had passed.

I slowly opened the door, wiping my wet feet on the welcome mat as I came in, slowly closing the door behind me. The entire house got silent as I came in. I looked up and saw Jacob, standing in the middle of the room, like he had just stopped pacing. We stared at each other for a second, then he said, "So?" His voice was calm, and his face looked nothing but concerned.

I took a deep breath in through my nose, and was relieved to notice the thirst was gone. "Well," I said. "I'm… not really sure. But…" I blinked my eyes. I was scared to say what I knew the truth was. "I'm not going to lie to you…" I took another deep breath. "I think I almost killed somebody."

Jacob had absolutely no reaction. "Why?" he asked a minute later.

"I don't know," I admitted freely. "I ate the food, I drank the water, and then I almost lost it." I blinked again. "It was horrible," I added. "And I don't know how to make it not happen again."

Jacob blinked. "Maybe you should not eat again."

I nodded my head. "Yeah…" I opened my arms for a hug, and he came to me.

The room slowly started to break off into other conversations. Jacob and I didn't stay at Sam and Emily's too late, we just helped clean up and said goodbye to everyone. Emily had been acting very well considering her injuries and how pregnant she was. She didn't get up from the couch that much, but she was cheerful and seemed happy.

I called my parents again. This time I talked to my mom. They had no explanation for what happened. They told me pretty much what Jacob had said; as of right now, I probably shouldn't be eating food. I talked to my mom for a while after we made that assessment. I told her about how scared I was, and she didn't really have much advice, but just her presence and knowledge of my fears was comforting to me. I hung up with her around ten-thirty, and Jacob and I both headed to bed. I was getting up around five tomorrow, and I set my alarm.

Five o'clock always came too soon, especially on Mondays. I liked college, but it was a little tedious. This morning though, I wasn't woken up by my alarm clock. I jolted awake, and a wave of heat rushed over me. I was_ never_ hot. Suddenly, Jacob's body pressed against mine seemed suffocating. I felt the nausea course through my body and I pushed my way out of Jacob's arms and got to the bathroom just in time. I puked out ever particle of substance that had gone in my body last night. Blood, chili, water, anything in my stomach came out. Jacob had woken up when I climbed out of bed, and he held my hair back while I vomited.

I was shaky after I finished puking for the first time in my life, and Jacob's warm body felt comforting. The nausea left almost as soon as it had come. I felt fine within minutes of puking, in fact, I was still being held by Jacob as we sat on the bathroom floor.

"Um," I said hoarsely. "That was… weird. I... feel a lot better now."

He nodded. "That's usually what happens after you puke… but you'll probably get sick in another few minutes again."

I kissed him on the cheek. "Honey," I said. I kissed him again. "This isn't a disease, its morning sickness."

He nodded slowly. "I guess you're right." He kissed me firmly on the lips. He looked at the watch he wore while he slept. "We can go get two more hours of sleep if you'd like."

I yawned. "Yeah, I'd like that." Before I could protest, he lifted me off the floor and carried me back to bed.

I was asleep within seconds of being laid down.

The next few weeks of my pregnancy slipped by. Before I knew it I was already at six weeks. The only differences I had noticed were I was more tired, more emotional, and had occasional morning sickness.

On the morning of April seventeenth, the alarm went off at five am. Jacob reached out and turned it off, then rolled to over to make sure I was getting up. I made him sleep when I had to get up this early, no matter how much he insisted he didn't need it. I knew he was exhausted. He took on all the extra shifts for running patrol, and took all the longer runs. He told me it was a price you had to be willing to pay if you wanted to be Alpha. But still, everyone needed to sleep at _some_ point.

I didn't feel sick as I climbed out of bed. I was tired, but I generally was in the morning. I wasn't thirsty, though I assumed that was because I had hunted just a little less than a week ago. I turned on the bathroom light and shut the door so it didn't bother Jacob. I turned on the shower, pulled off my pajamas and climbed in. It didn't take long for me to get my hair washed, and I was out in about seven minutes. I put my hair up in a towel and wrapped a robe around my body. I shut the light off before I opened the door, and made my way to the dresser Jacob and I shared. I pulled out a bra and underwear and made my way to our small closet. I grabbed a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved blouse and put them on.

I paused as I went to button my jeans. They were tight, but I hadn't worn them in a while. I eventually realized through my sleepy fog that they weren't going to button. The next two minutes of my life were somewhat surreal. I walked to the full length mirror on the back of our bathroom door, and stared at my stomach.

The smallest of bumps sat gently in between my hips.

I turned sideways to look at the bump at a different angle. I gasped as the realization hit me. This was the first time I was seeing _our_ baby. It was the physical proof that I was pregnant. I felt the tears of shock and joy come to my eyes. "Jacob…" I breathed. I took a deep breath. "Jacob!" I called louder. I heard him get out of bed quickly.

"What's going on?" He asked, not showing grogginess at all. He opened the bathroom door and squeezed in there with me.

"Look," I said quietly, pointing at the bump.

It took him a second to notice what I had seen immediately, but no longer than that.

"Oh my gosh…" he whispered.

I took his hand in mine, and placed it gently on the small bump. His face was shocked. "That's our baby," I said.

He nodded. I smiled at him, and he smiled back. He leaned forward and kissed me on the lips, and I kissed back. He pulled me into his arms, and held me there, looking at me. "You know," he said, kissing me again. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen right? And that bump… it's made you even more beautiful."

I kissed him myself this time. "You're not so bad yourself werewolf," I told him. I giggled a little. "We're having a baby," I said.

"I'm scared," he admitted.

"Me too," I agreed as I fell into him for another kiss.

The whole time I was at classes that day I kept noticing the bump. I noticed it when I sat down, and felt it shift with my motions. I noticed it when I was carrying my books and I could almost rest them on the bump. I noticed it when I was driving home from classes and I had to move the seat backwards a little because the seat was just a tad bit too close to the steering wheel. This bump was the first real indicator we'd had as to how fast my pregnancy would be. Kind of scary…

Jacob was out in the garage when I got home. He had the garage door open to let in some fresh air as he worked on his latest project; an old '76 mustang. It was looking fairly good, and I was planning on helping him start cleaning all the parts tonight. Bryce was hanging out there with him.

"Hey beautiful," he said as I pulled myself out of the car.

"Hi," I said calmly. "Hey Bryce."

"Hey," he said quietly. He was still growing like a weed, a good six inches past the six foot mark now.

I yawned and stretched. "How was school?" Jacob asked.

I shrugged. "Not as dull as some days. Could've been worse."

"Any homework?"

"Nah, I did it all in between classes."

He nodded, and turned back to his car. "You didn't by chance call my parents and tell them about my little discovery this morning did you?"

"Uh," he said. "I told your mom. She said it's what's to be expected. We knew the pregnancy would be fast, this is just an indicator of how fast it will be."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," I said. "I think I'm going to go over to my parent's house tonight for a while. I want to catch up with everybody a little bit. Do you want to come?"

"Hm," Jacob said. "Not particularly. You know me; I've got a car, a radio and someone to talk to so I'm good."

"Okay," I said. "I'll probably be back in a little over an hour."

"'Kay," he said. "Love you."

"Love you too," I said. I climbed back into my car and took off down the familiar road to my childhood home.

It only took me a few minutes before I was pulling into the nearly hidden long driveway. I wound up the curves and parked in front of the garage, which, like my house, had its door open. Rosalie was under her car working on it, and Emmett was being her jack. Alice and Jasper were also out there, sitting on the long counter on the far wall talking to Rose and Emmett.

"Hi!" Emmett said enthusiastically as I climbed out of the car.

"Hi," I said more calmly.

"You're pregnant!" he said just as enthusiastically.

"Really?" I said sarcastically. "So that's why my pants wouldn't button this morning…" I stuck my tongue out at him. He stuck his out back.

Rosalie slid out from under her car. "You're showing already?" she asked, looking up.

I shrugged. "I guess so." I looked down. "It was pretty funny this morning. I was so tired that I stood in the dark trying to button my pants for like ten minutes before I realized they weren't buttoning."

She laughed. "I'll bet it was." She looked at my stomach. "You know," she said. "I don't think I would've noticed that bump if you hadn't pointed it out, but it's definitely there."


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

"So where's dear daddy-to-be-tonight?" Jasper asked.

"He's at home," I said. "Working on a car of course, and spending some time with Bryce. That boy's a little flirt without meaning to be. It's quite adorable."

"He seems a little shy," Alice said.

"He is," I assured her. "But not as much once you get to know him."

She nodded knowingly. "Where are my parents?" I asked.

"Work," all four of them answered at the same time. I looked at my watch and stepped further inside the garage as I felt a raindrop. It was only five o'clock on a Monday evening.

"They don't usually work this hour," I stated.

"They picked up an extra shirt for somebody," Alice told me. She sighed. "You know," she said. "I've been thinking. I _love_ this town… but we can't stay here forever. People will start to notice we aren't changing."

I looked down as a realization came to me. If they left, I wouldn't go with them. They would want me to come with I'm sure, but I knew I would choose to stay on the reservation. I belonged there now. With my husband, and our soon-to-be baby. I blinked. "I…" I started. "I would miss you guys _so_ much…" I closed my eyes.

A memory came flooding back to me. My father and I sitting on his piano bench, forced inside on a rare sunny day in Forks. I was very young, probably just after the Volturi had come. He was playing a song for me… a song that I didn't really understand at the time. He had lyrics to it as well, that he was murmuring quietly. I couldn't recall all the words, but I remembered the chorus was something about him letting go. I was reaching extremely far back, but I knew that he must have been singing about letting _me_ go.

His voice sang to me from a far off memory. The song had been slow, and steady, and I seemed to have heard the melody recently. Before my wedding, I recalled. He had been playing that song right after I had bought my wedding dress.

"Earth to Nessie!" Emmett's voice boomed.

I jumped, and took a deep breath to calm myself. "Sorry," I said. That song…

"You were humming," Jasper informed me.

"Yeah," I said, nodding. "My dad wrote a song about me growing up… I forgot about it until just now." I shook my head. "I can't even imagine not having you guys living right around the corner from me…" I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. "The song talks about leaving… flying away."

There was silence. "On a lighter note," I said. "I'm going to have to find some maternity clothes."

"Shopping!" Alice said.

"I take that back, I shouldn't have said anything."

"Oh, come on," Alice said. "I can't be that bad."

"Yes," I said. "Yes you can. I'll buy some things myself thank-you."

"I can't even come?"

"Not if you're going to try to persuade me to buy something I don't need. I'm not exactly filled to the bursting with money at the moment."

"Hmph," she said. "Just give me the day and I'll be there."

"Uh-huh," I said. "So where are Connor and Julia?"

"Right here," Julia said, walking out the garage door and pulling Connor by the hand to go sit by Alice and Jasper on the counter. "How are you?"

"Pregnant," I answered. "As Emmett so intelligently stated for us a few minutes ago."

"So… what does being pregnant feel like?" She made me smile, the way she made conversation with people. She was a very intellectual person.

I clicked my tongue, lifting and dropping my eyebrows. "A lot of different things Julia, a lot of different things."

"Like what?"

I raised my eyebrows at her, and she raised hers back at me in a mockery of my expression. "Like… a lot of emotions… among other things."

"What kind of other things?"

"Other things we aren't going to discuss."

"_Oh_," she said, drawing out the vowel. "_Those_ kind of other things."

I yawned. "And I'm tired. All the time. It's perfectly lovely."

"You should sleep more," Connor said dumbly.

"Ok Connor," I told him just as dumbly. "I'll do that." I looked around. "Where are Zach and Andrea?"

"Pulling in the driveway in about thirty seconds," said Julia. Her talent sure was something…

Sure enough they were in the driveway and out of the car within thirty seconds. "Nice…" I said.

"Hi!" Andrea said, just as energetic as Emmett.

"Hi," I said back. "How are you two?"

"Good," they both answered at the same time.

"How are you?" Zach asked.

I laughed. "We just went over this. I'm pregnant, that's how I am."

"Um," Zach said. "I'm… um… sorry about that?"

I shook my head. "It's nothing to be sorry about."

"I see," he said.

I looked at my watch. "Well," I said. "Since my mom and dad aren't home, can you tell them I stopped by? I'm going to head home, I think."

"Yep," several voices chimed.

"Have fun living with the dogs," Jasper said sarcastically.

"I will," I said just as sarcastically. The rain started falling harder as I got in the car and drove myself home. I felt like there was a storm coming, and a bad one at that.

When I got home it was near six o'clock. Jacob was on his cell phone as I pulled my wet car into the garage next to his mustang.

"Ok," he was saying. Bryce was paying close attention. "I'll be there in a second. Meet me about half way."

He snapped his phone shut. "That was Sam," he told me. "He found something way up by Port Angeles. We're going to call everybody up there as soon as he gets in hearing range. Are you coming with me Bryce?" he asked.

"Uh, _yeah_," Bryce said, as if the answer was obvious.

Jacob came closer to me, and Bryce walked out of the garage into the rain with an eye roll. Jacob pulled me into his arms and kissed me deeply. I kissed back, holding him tightly, wishing I could make him stay here with me. He touched the small bump in between my hips with his gentle hand. "I don't know when I'll be back," he whispered. "But it won't be too long I don't think." He kissed me again, without moving his hand. He pulled away. "I'll miss you," he said. He bent down and kissed my stomach. "And you," he said, talking to our unborn child. I smiled at him. He smiled back.

"See you soon," he said. "I love you Ness."

"Love you too."

He went out the garage door, pulling off his shirt and dropping it before he took off into the rain with Bryce at his heels. I yawned and stretched. I really was exhausted. I went into the house, and decided to lie down for a little while. I shut off the lights and stretched out in the recliner. I drifted to sleep just after I heard two identical wolf howls from the woods.

Thunder clapped loudly over my head. I bolted up right. It was dark outside and raining harder than ever. I looked at my watch. It was nearly midnight.

Jacob had been gone for _six hours_.

I knew I shouldn't be worried about him, yet I was. I knew I shouldn't be afraid without him here, yet I was. I knew I should pick myself up, get in bed, and go back to sleep, yet I didn't. I hugged myself and kept my arms folded over my chest.

I felt bad for doing it, but I didn't know what else to do. I grabbed the phone and dialed Emily's familiar number. She answered on the first ring, which surprised me.

"Hey," I said.

"Hi," she said quietly. "You're up too?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

She sighed. "Actually, Rachel and Kim are both over here with their kids right now. I just got off the phone with Abbey as well. Claire called me a few minutes before that. She said her mom didn't know she was awake. Abbey is on her way over here. Ness… I don't know about you, but something doesn't feel right to me. They've been gone for six hours. In a storm, none the less. I was just about to call Claire's mom and tell her if Claire was still awake to let her come over here. We don't know what's going on… but Ness… I'm worried it's something bad."

"I know what you mean," I said. "Mind if I come over?"

"Please do," she encouraged. "I'll leave the door open."

I hung up the phone with Emily. Her house was close enough to just jog over to, even in this weather. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun with two ponytail holders so it would stay out of my face, and then I took off out the front door, just pausing to shut it behind me. I was at Emily's house in under a minute, where the kitchen and living room lights were on.

I walked in the front door and saw Emily sitting nervously on the couch, hanging up the phone. "Hey," she said distractedly. Rachel was pacing in the kitchen, and Kim was sitting with a calm face on the couch next to Emily. "Abbey is picking up Claire. Her mom says she's terrified. She was crying when she went to see if she was asleep."

"Gosh," I said. "How awful."

We sat in a dead, strained silence until Abbey and Claire got there. I took a deep breath as they came in. Claire wasn't crying, but the traces of the emotion were still on her face. Abbey was shaking slightly. We sat quietly until twelve forty-five when an idea came to me. I couldn't believe how stupid I had been not to think of it before.

"Oh!" I said out loud. All of their faces turned towards me. "I can call Julia and she can tell us what's going on. Or at least where they are."

"Wow," Abbey said, smacking her forehead. "I can't believe no one thought of that."

There were murmurs of agreement as I hit speed dial number four on my phone. Julia answered on the second ring. "Nessie?" she said without even saying hello. "What are you doing up?"

"Julia," I said. I took a quick breath. "Julia, listen to me. I need you to find out where the wolves are."

"Okay…" she barely responded as the images flooded into her mind. I heard her gasp and my dad say something quickly and slightly touching panic. I heard a commotion as everyone jumped to their feet and heard the back door open and slam closed again.

"Julia!" I practically yelled. "Julia answer me! What happened?"

"Nessie…" she said, and I heard the shakiness in her voice. "They're hurt… um…"

"What?" I screeched. "Julia! Don't hang up on m-" but the line was dead.

I snapped the phone shut. The girl's voices bombarded me with questions about what was going on. "They're hurt!" I spoke over all of them. "I'll tell them to bring them here, try to make some room! I'm going to go find them!"

I was out the door and halfway to the woods before they had time to protest. I could smell the wolves trail first, and then my family's. I was running so fast it wasn't long before I could see Esme darting through the trees. I chased her, running faster than I ever remembered in my life.

It wasn't long before I could hear the wolves. There weren't a lot of noises coming from where they were. I heard someone whimper slightly, and lots of heavy breathing. I heard a sharp, clear gasp, and I heard Joel's pained voice. "Leah," he whispered calmly. "Just breathe sweetheart; I can hear them coming now."

"It hurts," she moaned. "Worse than it should. _Way_ worse than it should."

The last thing I heard before my family got to them and started speaking was Jacob's calm, clear breathing.

I stumbled into Esme as I made an abrupt halt behind her.

The sight I saw startled me into shock.

The scene looked like a battle field. The blood was everywhere, and not one of the wolves was left standing. My eyes traveled to Jacob and I gasped. His stomach was completely ripped open and oozing blood. His shoulders looked like he had run through a fire of razor blades, cut all the way to the muscles at some parts. His whole body was black and blue, with a large cut going from his cheek to his chin. His face was swollen a little, and that scared me. His right leg was hardly distinguishable in the way it was mauled. It had been ripped open deep, and was swollen to twice the size it would normally be. Why wasn't he healing?

Carlisle's voice shook me out of my shock as the others moved around me. "Let's go!" he was saying. "We've got to get them out of here and inside somewhere! I don't want any of this becoming infected."

I ran to Jacob and fell to him. "Hey," he said in a pained voice.

I was crying before I knew it. "Sh, sh," I said in a whisper, taking his hand. "Don't talk, it's going to be okay, I'm going to make it okay. I'm here, honey, I'm here."

His face was in a hard grimace, and I stroked his cheek. Why weren't they healing?

"Where should we bring them?" Emmett was asking, completely serious.

I had the answer snap to my lips. "I told them we would bring them to Sam and Emily's house."

"Will there be enough room there?" My father asked.

"I told them to make room."

"Then we'll take them there," Carlisle said decisively.

"Um," Leah said. No one was by her yet. "I'm okay and all, but I went into labor about two hours ago."

"Why didn't you say that?" My dad asked.

"I just did!"

"Okay, Bella take Leah to Sam and Emily's house as fast as you can run. Everyone else… take someone and go. There's thirteen of us and twenty-two of you. We'll be back for those of you we've left behind just as fast as we can."

"Nessie," Jacob whispered. "Listen; take one of the younger guys first. I'll be okay just, please, don't argue."

I stared at him for a moment, and nodded. He squeezed my hand just before letting it go. Kaylie was lying not far from Jacob, but nowhere near Collin. She was lying on her side, with her shirt ripped at the stomach, bruised, cut, and bleeding everywhere like Jacob.

I came up to her, and put my face near hers. "Do you have anything broken?"

She barely shook her head no. I wiped her hair off her face and neck and came away with blood on my hand. "It's going to be okay," I told her. "I promise."

I scooped her into my arms, and pushed forward, trying not to think about how I was leaving Jacob behind. I ran as hard as could, pushing myself to keep up with Esme as always. It didn't take long before my mom was at the house with Leah, and the gasps came and the questions from all of the women there. My dad got there next with Kyle cradled in his arms, and I could hear Claire actually squeal out of shock. He had been way worse than Leah… Leah had actually looked very fortunate.

I got to the house just then. "I put the car in the street," I heard Emily say, still in shock. "We spread out some blankets and sheets in the garage. You can put some of them there." I stood out in the rain for a second as we brought the gory group through the door.

"Feel free to use the kid's room, they're all in my room," Emily offered up her house.

"Put Leah in the girl's room," Carlisle said. "Stay with her Bella."

My mom brought Leah to the back of the house.

"Maybe we should get the kids out of here," Kim said. "I'll call Sue and Charlie…"

I followed Esme who had Collin into the garage with Kaylie. There was quite a bit of room in the garage. I figured most of the guys would end up out there. I laid Kaylie down right next to her husband, and they grabbed each other's hands. "Just hang tight," I told them.

I headed back out into the storm with most of the others. My dad, Carlisle, and mom were staying so they could get started on treating these guys. This time when I reached the wolves I went immediately to Jacob, and he let me take him with no words. The others were scooped up gently and brought back just as fast as we could carry them. I blew the air out of my mouth and realized just how cramped this house was going to be as I brought Jacob in this time. Kim and Abbey were bringing all of the kids out the back door and into her car and bringing them over to Sue and Grandpa Charlie's house, not even bothering to buckle them in at this late hour.

I brought Jacob into Brandon's room and laid him down gently in the middle of it. I looked for a way to make more space in the too small room. All I could come up with was to pick up the whole dresser and set it on the bed. I gave in to that idea, and moved Jacob gently out of the middle of the room and off into the corner, Sam was brought in by Jasper just behind him.

Emily came in as Jasper walked out. She sat down gently by Sam. "Emily," he whispered. She had tears running down her face.

"I'm here," she said quietly.

"Emily," he said again. "Aren't you in labor?"

I hadn't even thought of that. She sobbed quietly and nodded. He reached out a hand and gently pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. "It'll be okay," he promised her quietly. "But you should probably tell someone."

She looked up. "I'll tell my mom," I told her, standing up.

I knocked on the girl's bedroom door. My mom opened it. "What's going on?" she asked me.

"Emily's in labor too."

My mom clicked her tongue. "Big surprise there, tell her to come in here and see me for a little." Leah was lying on Jenny's bed, still bloody and breathing hard, but my mom looked like she had been in the middle of cleaning her up.

I told Emily what my mom had said. She kissed Sam on the forehead and stood up. She winced slightly, and I realized how hard this was going to be for both of them.

I sat down by Jacob again. "What… happened?" I asked.

"Well," Jacob said. "What Sam found was a track of human footprints disappearing suddenly. We were all really confused about what was going on with that, and there were a lot of ideas floating around. We couldn't get anything accomplished, being in each other's heads like that, so we decided to phase back."

"And?" I questioned, willing him to go on.

He took a deep, shaky breath, and winced. "It turns out there _are_ other people out there who turn into something, or at least one group."

What was he talking about? That's was almost impossible. Another group of supernatural beings? I couldn't believe what he was saying, but I let him continue.

"We don't know who they are," he said. "But they turned into eagles… or some kind of large bird. We don't know why they attacked us. We think they were probably intimidated. They weren't acting like normal birds when they attacked us… And that's the most reasonable conclusion we've come to thus far."

I sat in stunned horror. Not only was there another superhuman group out there… but they were dangerous. And they had attacked the wolves, people I loved, on the spot. I felt anger rushing through my body, and had to take several deep breaths to calm myself. "So…" I said, almost silently. "Why aren't you guys healing?"

"I think it's because it was the same species, sort of, that attacked us," Sam spoke up.

"Good enough for me," Jacob said.

We were silent for a minute. "Now what?" I asked dumbly. There was so much to sort through… so many people that still needed help, Jacob included.

"I don't know," Jacob gasped and winced. "But can we worry about that later?"

"Of course," I said. I blinked as what needed to be done and what I wanted to do fought with each other in my mind. What needed to be done eventually won over. "If you're okay," I started. "Sort of at least; I'm going to go see if I can help. I think we'll need all hands on deck."

"I'm sort of okay," Jacob said. "Better than Leah and Emily I'm sure."

I clicked my tongue. "Oh yes, definitely better than they are." I kissed him on the forehead, and walked out into the garage, where a lot of the guys were.

My dad was out there. "How can I help?" He was in the process of stitching up Kyle's leg. He snipped off the last of the string as he finished.

He looked up. "I told anyone who's remotely capable to help clean wounds that aren't too serious. There are some more sterilizers in Carlisle's bag I'm sure. Make sure you use a new one for each person."

I immediately found Carlisle and his bag with Wyatt and Nathan in the kitchen. I found the sterilizers after minimal searching. I moved to the back of the house first. Jeremy, Seth, Joel, and Paul were all in Sam and Emily's room, and Joel was the only one not being attended to at the moment. I moved to him.

"So," I said as I sat down by him. "You're going to be a daddy again today."

He winced as I started to wipe down a shallow cut on his arm. "Yeah," he said. "Is Leah okay?"

"Well," I told him. "I mean, she's having a baby. She's with my mom, and Emily, so I'm sure she'll be fine." I looked him over. "I'll bet you can go see her just as soon as we get you stitched up and taken care of. I'll try to get my dad in here next. He'd understand you want to be there."

"Thank you," he said quietly.

"No problem," I said.

"Why aren't you with Jacob?" he asked.

I sighed. "Joel…" I took a deep breath. "Sometimes what needs to be done has to overrule what you want to be done. There's a big difference between want and need, trust me. I learned that at a very young age."

He sighed. "I'll bet you did."

"Tell me if this hurts more than it should alright? I really don't know what I'm doing…"

"You're doing fine," he muttered. I looked at his leg. It was covered in dark mud and crimson blood. The blood wasn't bothering me tonight, like it rarely did. It was werewolf blood anyhow.

I started to wipe the areas around the cuts off. "I don't know how they're going to be able to treat these bruises." I said. "Normally it would be ice and an injection I believe, but neither of those will work."

"Ibuprofen," Abbey said, speaking up from where she was cleaning off Seth and moving over to help Andrea with Jeremy. "It'll be hard not to overdose, so we'll have to monitor all of them closely. I don't know how much of a store your family has either… We'll need quite a bit…"

Joel winced as I started cleaning the actual wound. "Sorry," I muttered. He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly with his eyes closed. "You know," I said after finishing with his leg. "It doesn't look near as bad once it's all cleaned off."

I stood up. "I'll go see if my dad can come in here. I should probably tell him to go see Sam too…" I moved out of the room and went and talked to my dad quietly about going to see Joel and Sam next. He agreed and immediately took his stitching supplies and moved off to work on Joel first. I took a new sterilizer and moved back into Brandon's room where both Sam and Jacob were lying. "Ok," I said as I sat down next to Sam. "My dad's going to come over to get you sewed up so you can go be with Emily. He's still moving around trying to get to everybody, but I asked him to come to you and Joel first."

"Thank-you," he said. I cleaned his wounds quickly, knowing my father would be there soon. I ignored his winces as I stripped the dirt and dried blood off of his arms and legs. I cleaned off his face, and saw the age in his eyes that normally didn't show through his looks and demeanor. I got up and moved over to Jacob just as my dad came in to stitch up Sam.


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

"So," my dad said as he sat down by Sam. "Your wife's having a baby tonight."

"Yep," Sam said. "Number four."

"Nervous?"

"Not really," he sighed. "Excited though."

"That's good." My dad kept working on Sam's leg. "Though," my dad said. His voice dropped down quite a few levels. "_I_ _am_ a little nervous about Leah."

Sam stiffened. "Why so?"

My dad sighed. "Her pelvis is bruised and just slightly cracked. It's not going to be an easy delivery, for her, the baby, or Joel for that matter."

"Wow," Sam said. "That's going to hurt."

"Yeah," my dad said. "I'm going in there to help as soon as we get everybody stabilized."

"Is Emily ok?" he asked.

My dad scoffed. "She's fine. This is her fourth baby; she could practically deliver it on her own."

Sam smiled briefly and then winced. "Sorry," my dad said.

I continued to clean Jacob's wounds, trying to make him as comfortable as possible at the moment. I gently cleaned his face, and then his shoulders. I moved to his stomach, which was still oozing blood. My dad looked up as he read my mind and saw a closer view of what Jake's abs looked like.

"I don't want to do stitches on his stomach Nessie, go tell Carlisle you need something for a compression, he'll know what to give you." My dad immediately went back to helping Sam.

I did what my father asked, forcing myself to leave Jacob once again. I came back as soon as I had what I needed. My dad was pulling Sam to his feet as I came in. Sam walked stiffly out of the room, limping and wincing slightly. I came back into the room, and my dad held out his hand for the gauzy material Carlisle had given me.

I linked my hand in Jacob's as both me and my dad sat down next to Jacob. He spread the gauze over Jacob's stomach, and put pressure on it. Jacob winced, and squeezed my hand tightly. I squeezed back. I ran my hand through his hair, trying to comfort him. "What about liquid-stitch?" I asked my dad.

"That's an option, but this will hurt less later if I can get the blood flow to stop now."

I nodded, and kept assuaging Jacob. Soon, by using my nose, I could tell that the blood flow was slowing, and soon stopped. "Alright," my dad said, pulling away the gauzy material and putting it aside in a plastic bag he was carrying around with garbage in it. He looked at the wound. "It's not so bad," he said. "But I'm sure it hurts a lot. The muscles look extremely over worked and beaten. You're going to be super sore for a couple of days, but all I can give you is ibuprofen. Try not to use your core muscles as much as you can, and they'll heal fast. For the bleeding, I'm going to use medi-wrap. It'll seal to itself for now, but if you're still scabbing in about a day I'll need to do it again to make sure the wound stays clean."

"Ok," Jacob said.

My dad went down to his leg. "Oh wow," he said. "That probably doesn't feel too nice."

Jacob agreed. "Ok," my dad said. He looked at the leg while barely touching it, and very lightly if he was forced to. Jacob squeezed my hand. "The bone isn't broken, which is good news. The muscles are ripped slightly, but we can take care of that with some ice, heat, and elevation. The bad news is, you're going to need quite a few stitches down here. Don't worry, it shouldn't hurt, but it could take a few minutes."

"Alright," Jacob said.

"I'm going to stitch your leg before your stomach. Nessie can you clean off his abdomen while I stitch his leg?"

"Sure," I said quietly. I took the sterilizer and gently wiped down his stomach, clearing it of all blood, dirt, mud, and whatever else was under there. It didn't look pretty when I was done, but much better than it had. My dad was a quick stitcher, and was done in no time. He moved to his abs. He looked up at me. "Can you go ask your mom what's going on with the girls? I'm curious."

I lifted an eyebrow. "Fine," I said gruffly, getting up. I took the few steps out of the room and across the hall. I knocked on the door.

"It's Nessie," my mom said.

"Ah, let her come in," Leah said dismissively. I could almost see her waving her hand.

"Come in," my mom said.

I opened the door and walked in with no hesitation. "Dad wants to know how things are going," I told her.

"Tell him things are going just swell," Leah said, and I saw her wince.

"Just tell him…" my mom searched for words. "That things are going as good as can be expected." I nodded my head and she paused. "How are you?" she asked.

I sighed and rubbed my temples for a moment. "Well," I said quietly. "Considering I thought my husband could be dead a few hours ago and I'm still standing; yeah, I'd say I'm doing pretty good."

She smiled. "You're a tough kid."

I shook my head. "I'm not a kid anymore."

"In my eyes you are."

"Then so be it." I smiled again and went back to Jacob. My dad had him almost completely bandaged when I came in. "He needs water to take the ibuprofen with," my dad said, and I left yet again to get him some water. I came back and pushed Jacob's head up onto his chest while he swallowed the medication. "Try to get some sleep," my dad told him. "You'll heal faster that way, and you've got to be exhausted."

"Thanks," Jacob said.

"Any time," my father answered as he walked out of the room.

Jacob laid his head back and I kissed him gently on the lips. "Get some sleep," I told him. "If you wake up and hear screaming, don't panic, I'm pretty sure that's what's supposed to happen when you have a baby."

He gave me a faint laugh. "Okay," he said. "I love you."

"I love you too." I kissed him again, and he fell asleep almost instantly.

I thought about staying there with him, just to watch him sleep, but I knew that there was probably more to be done. I shut off the light and shut the door behind me. I went out to the garage where it looked like Carlisle was still working. My dad had moved on to finish with the guys in Sam and Emily's room.

"What can I do to help?" I asked Carlisle.

He looked up at me. "Do you have a strong stomach?"

I scoffed. "Oh please," I said without hesitation. "That's the least of my worries."

He smiled grimly. "Ok," he said. "I need you to put a compression on Brooke's leg. It's still bleeding pretty profusely, but I'd rather wrap it then stitch it. She's right over there."

I moved to where he pointed as he handed me another one of the gauzy materials I had given my dad. I went to sit by Brooke where she lay by Embry. She was still conscious, but looked like she might go out any second. She had to be exhausted.

"Hey Brooke," I said.

"Hey," she said quietly.

"I'm going to try to stop the bleeding on your leg alright? They don't want to give you stitches if they don't have to."

"Ok," she said. "Embry," she said. He turned his face toward hers. "Where are our kids?"

I almost laughed. "We dropped them off at Sue's right before we left remember?" He asked her.

She coughed, and it sounded a little like a laugh. "Oh yeah," she said. "That seems like a long, long time ago."

"Well it was a long time ago," he reminded her.

I looked at my watch. It read one-thirty am already. "Yeah," I said. "Like seven-and-a-half hours ago."

"Really?" They both said at the same time.

"Yep," I said. "It's one thirty."

"Wow," Brooke said quietly.

"I would tell you to get some sleep," I told them. "But there's a good chance that there's going to be somebody over here in a minute poking you with a needle."

"That sounds… lovely," Brooke said. She paused. "Do you know how Leah and Emily are doing?"

"Emily's fine," I told her, repeating my father's words. "And Leah… her pelvis is bruised and slightly cracked."

Brooke winced. "Ow," she said. "That's gotta hurt."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I wouldn't know."

She smiled. "Not yet you wouldn't."

I shrugged my shoulders again. "Maybe."

She gave me a questioning look. I took in a slightly shaky from tiredness breath. "Well," I said. "We don't really know how this baby is going to be born."

She comprehended what I said. "I see," she said. She was quiet for a minute. "Are you afraid?"

I thought about what she asked. "About giving birth; no. No matter what…I'm stronger than this baby. About being a parent and raising a very _not-normal_ child; I'm terrified." I took a deep breath. "Though fear of the unknown is just like being afraid of the dark. When you turn on the lights, it all goes away."

"That's a good attitude to have," Brooke said.

I nodded and sniffed. "I think the blood flow is stopping," I told her.

"That's good," she said with a sigh.

I looked at Embry. He was still pretty gory. "Has anybody helped you Embry?" I asked him.

"Julia came by to clean me off," he said. "But that's it."

"I see," I said. "Well, they're slowly getting around to everybody. My mom _would_ be here, but she's delivering babies."

"I'm okay," Embry said. "Just tired."

I smiled slightly and shook my head. "You don't look okay."

"Ah, I've I had better days," he agreed.

My dad came in the room then. He looked around for half a second and then came over to where I was with Brooke. "I think it's stopped bleeding," he said. I took a deep breath, and agreed.

I pulled the gauzy material away and saw that our thoughts were correct. My dad cleaned it again, and then looked at it. "It doesn't need stitches," he said. "But I'm going to wrap it in medi-wrap."

"Ok," Brooke said. She took a deep breath as he started to wrap the wound. "So Nessie," she said. "Have you guys been thinking about names?"

I gave her a look. "Yes," I told her. "Or at least I have. Though let me tell you, it's pretty darn hard to top _Renesmee_." She laughed.

"That's a beautiful name," my father said. "Very original." For a second I thought he was talking about my name. Then I realized that he was talking about the name I was thinking of for our baby. He must have noticed I was thinking about it… "Where did you get it?" he asked.

I smiled. "Pretty much the same place mom got my name."

He nodded, and I knew he was thinking about what I had said. The name I was thinking of _was_ quite original. I had come up with the girl's name first. I had gotten her first name by taking my parents first names and putting them together. Edward Bella Edward Bella, I repeated in my head over and over again. What I came up with wasn't the perfect match, but I loved the way it sounded. Eila. Pronounced EE-la. Her middle name hadn't been near as hard. I wanted to use Jacob's parent's names, so I tried the same method as with her first name. Billy Sarah Billy Sarah. When they came together, they created the name Sarie. Pronounced SAIR-ee. The boy's name had been much easier. I liked the name Kyron Lance, the names coming from no one in particular.

"Can we know what the names are?" Brooke asked. I considered for a moment. I hadn't asked Jacob about the names yet, but I didn't think he would care if I told Brooke and Embry my ideas.

"Ok," I said. "I'll give you the boy's name first, since it's actually remotely normal. It's Kyron Lance."

"That's cute," Brooke said. "A name he could grow into though too."

"Exactly what I was going for," I said. "Now," I said. I smiled. "Don't knock the girl's name before you try it. It's a little crazy," I warned them. "Almost as crazy as my name. But anyways, I came up with Eila Sarie."

There was a beat of silence. "That's very fluid," Brooke said. "But where _in the name of it all_ did you come up with _that_?"

I laughed with my dad. "Well," I began. "Eila is like Edward and Bella put together. And Sarie is like Billy and Sarah put together."

"Whoa," Embry said. "And I thought my name was original."

"I like it," Brooke said. "It's very linguistic, and kind of exotic. I like it," she said again.

"Thanks," I said. I helped my dad finish off with Brooke's leg, and he asked me to put bandages on all of her other cuts. She actually wasn't too bad except for her leg, and even that didn't need stitches. She was pretty scratched up and bruised, but she would be okay. I cleaned her off and put so many band-aids on her that I didn't think I ever wanted to put another one on again.

When I finished, I gave her an ibuprofen with water and told her to get some sleep. All of the guys in the back rooms were already stabilized and sleeping. Leah and Emily were well into labor, and though Leah had started nearly two hours before Emily, her contractions had been smaller, and Emily's had started out immediately strong.

Embry was finished up almost as quickly as Brooke, but he ended up needing stitches in his arm and stomach. He was going to be pretty immobile for a while… I gave him the standard ibuprofen and he went to sleep with his good arm around Brooke.

I went around with the bottle of ibuprofen and water while my dad and Carlisle finished up with everyone. They finished with the last two people, Caleb and Lauren, one right after the other. I saw them both go into the girl's room and my mom come out. I handed out the ibuprofen to Caleb and Lauren, and met my mom in the living room where all of the 'imprints' were sitting. Claire was dozing on Abbey's shoulder, but the others were still awake. My family, other than Carlisle and my parents, had gone home a few minutes ago.

My mom opened up her arms for a hug. I held onto her tightly. "I'm proud of you," she said.

I pulled away and cocked an eyebrow. "For what?" I asked.

She smiled. "For being you."

"Care to specify?"

She laughed her bell-like, soprano laugh quietly. "For calling when you were scared, for running out there tonight, for walking away from Jacob when you wanted to stay with him."

I shrugged. "It was the right thing to do."

She nodded. "Oh yes, but even I wouldn't have done the right thing in that situation. They would've had to pry me off of your father with their nails if they wanted me to leave him when he was hurt."

I laughed. "Believe it or not, I can imagine that happening."

She nodded. "Love is the most powerful and dangerous thing in the whole world. That's why you have to be so careful with it."

I heard someone gasp and wince from the girl's room. My mom looked up. "It's going to get pretty ugly in there in about an hour, I'd say," she commented.

"How much longer all together do you think?"

"Well," she said. "Considering that they both have pretty consistent labor and the contractions are coming pretty quickly, I'd say these babies are due in about two or two-and-a-half hours."

"That's not bad," I said.

"It's really good," she agreed. She took a deep breath. "Which reminds me…" she turned to face Abbey. "Do you want to deliver Emily's baby?"

Her eyes got wide. "Um…" she said. "Are you confident in me to do that?"

My mom nodded. "Totally confident. And anyways, you won't be alone. We'll all be there; we'll just be focusing our attention on getting that baby out of Leah. If you need me though I'll be right there. Don't worry; Emily's past deliveries could've been put in medical textbooks as what a perfect labor and delivery is supposed to look like."

Abbey took a deep breath. "Okay," she said. "If you're sure. Do you want me to come in there now?"

"Yep," she said. "Just come with me."

Abbey gently slid out from under Claire and laid her gently on the couch. She was so exhausted that she had fallen asleep. That was one tough little girl…

The next hour passed with only winces and gasps from the girl's room. The other rooms stayed silent. I heard crying as we moved into the second hour, and knew that the babies would be here soon. It was nearing three am at this point, and I heard slight movements in the rooms where the guys were sleeping.

The hour ticked by slowly, with moaning, and crying from the girl's room, and still, only faint movements from the other rooms. I was afraid for Leah, knowing how soon in my future I could be the one crying and moaning. I heard my mother tell them it was time to push, and she told them jokingly to 'assume the position.'

I heard Carlisle tell Leah to just spread her legs wide if she couldn't pull them up to her chest. I heard my mom, count out the first push, and both Leah and Emily stayed silent. I heard Leah's breathing become labored, and as the next push ended, she was sobbing. Not crying, sobbing. Joel was trying to comfort her quietly, but she was far beyond that now.

I heard her yell as she pushed again, and heard most of the guys wake up suddenly. "Just let it all out," I heard my mom say. Leah was sobbing again.

Emily remained silent throughout the last two pushes, and I heard her baby crying as she took in a long gasp of air. No one said anything as Emily was handed the screaming baby, and Leah pushed again. Leah was absolutely hysterical in her pain, crying for Joel, even though he was right next to her.

"One more Leah," my mom was saying. "You've got the head, just one more."

I knew something was wrong when I heard Leah gasp, and my dad say, "Just pull," a second later. The baby was crying in the next second, but was quickly quieted by my mother.

I heard Joel say, "Leah?" and she didn't respond. I became panicked, thinking the worst. "Leah!" Joel said more urgently.

I heard my mom say, "Joel-"

But he wasn't listening to her as he called to Leah again. "Joel," my mom said more firmly. "Go out into the living room." I heard a slight shuffle. "Joel, don't make this get ugly," my mother said firmly. "Out in the hallway! Right now!" Abbey opened the door and walked out with a mixed expression on her face that I couldn't read. My mom had one hand on Joel's chest, pushing him backward as he called for Leah, waiting for her to respond. Her other arm cradled their new baby, swaddled in a blanket, still bloody. "Move Joel!" my mom ordered.

I saw the doors where the guys were sleeping creep open and curious eyes peeking out to see what was going on. Jacob's door remained closed, but I knew he was awake. My mom got the door closed behind her, leaving herself, Joel, and the baby on the other side. "What happened to her?" Joel asked in alarm.

My mom kept pushing him back. "She fainted, Joel," she said more quietly. "She's okay, she's going to be okay, but you can't be in there right now."

"Why not?" he asked, and I thought I heard his voice shake.

"Because," my mom said. "They need room to work, and Leah's mind needs a moment to collect itself. I certainly have no idea how much pain she was in just now, but let me tell you, she's the toughest girl I know, so that had to hurt."

She pushed him all the way to couch where he sat down next to Claire and put his face in his hands. Sam stepped quietly out of the room, arms at his sides. "Joel," my mom said.

"Yes?" Joel responded almost silently.

"Do you want to hold your new baby girl?"

He looked up, and my mom held the baby out to him. He stood up, keeping his hands behind his back. He looked at the still mewing little girl, and smiled a loving smile at her. "I can't hold her," he said.

"And why not?" my mom asked.

"Because," Joel said. "I've promised myself from the very beginning that I would always let Leah hold the baby first. It just seems right to me."

My mom smiled and nodded. "That's good," she said. "But," she said a moment later. "This beautiful little girl still needs a name. Can you give me that?"

"Paige Olivia," Joel said confidently.

"How about you Sam?" my mom asked.

"Ryan Joel," Abbey said before Sam could speak. "I already wrote it down."

"You did amazing," Sam complimented her.

She shook her head. "No, Emily did the amazing thing. You can learn to do what I just did. You can't be taught how to have a baby."

"No," Sam agreed. "You most definitely cannot."

Joel was still looking at his daughter. "Is she okay?" Joel asked. "I mean, after… what happened with Leah and all?"

My mom was still wiping the baby off with the blanket, clearing her air ways and wiping her eyes, trying to put her back to sleep. "She seems okay," my mom said. "She cried like she was okay. Her pulse and air sound okay." She scoffed. "Oh wow, I didn't even tie the cord."

She sat down on the floor and spread the blanket out a little with the baby on it. She stayed asleep. My mom took the severed umbilical cord and with expert hands, tied it in a small knot, tearing the extra part off smoothly with her strong hands. My mother had delivered or assisted in delivering babies so many times she had gotten a diaper on the baby in the short amount of time it had taken for Joel to realize Leah had fainted.

Sam had long since stepped back into his daughter's room, where his son had just been born. I heard the door open and close again as my father stepped out.

"She's okay," he said immediately. "She's not going to be able to walk for a few days, but she's okay."

"What… well… happened?" Joel asked. "She's had babies before, so why was this time so… painful?"

My dad sighed. "Her pelvis was bruised, and slightly cracked."

Joel took a deep breath in. "Oh… my gosh…"

He put his face in his hands again. "It would kind of feel like… well; imagine you had a slightly cracked skull and somebody was taping it, over and over again. That's what a contraction felt like, along with the pain a contraction normally brings. Now imagine someone was pushing forcefully on that slightly cracked skull, along with the pain of having a baby of course."

Joel had his face in his hands again. "Is she going to be okay when she wakes up?"

"Much better than she was," my dad offered. "She doesn't have someone pushing on the slightly cracked pelvis now, so it can actually heal."

"How did you know her pelvis was cracked?" Joel inquired. "There isn't exactly an x-ray machine in there…"

"You _do not_ want _to know_," my mom said. "There are things that… people who have done this before… know that nobody should _ever_ know."

Joel chuckled. "I'll bet they do."

"Yeah," my dad said. "And Abbey's majoring as an OB/GYN so she's going to know a bunch of stuff that even_ I_ don't know. Or care to know for that matter."

Abbey sighed. "That's awesome. _That_ was awesome."

"Glad you like it," my mom said. "That way you can take our places when we leave."

"Why do you guys keep talking about leaving?" I asked my mom.

"Because," she said without hesitation. "Sweetie, we can't stay here forever."

I took a deep breath. "I know," I said. I leaned into her for a hug, and she wrapped her arms around me. "I just never thought it would come so soon."

"Neither did we," my father said. "But, we… have to move on."

I took a deep breath. "Only this time, you're leaving me behind."

He nodded, without looking at me. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger…" It seemed like he was almost telling himself that.

"We'll be okay, Dad," I said. "I know we will."

He smiled. "I know," he said. "I've moved from a lot of places… and met a lot of people… but could never have imagined I would leave this place with so much… changed."

"Yeah like you'd be leaving with a wife and saying goodbye to a daughter, son-in-law, and grandchild." I stated the obvious.

"Yes, Nessie, like that," he was mocking me, and I smiled.


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

I heard a gasp, and a moan come from inside the girl's bedroom. Joel's head snapped up, and I looked to my father. He didn't move. I heard Carlisle talking to Leah, explaining to her what happened. She was crying still, but not hysterically. She was calming down, and Carlisle was getting her to swallow some ibuprofen. She asked where the baby was, and why it wasn't there, and where Joel was, and why he wasn't there. She was shooting out questions, horribly confused. "Just take some deep breaths, and tell me how you feel," Carlisle encouraged.

She did as he told her, and she remained calm throughout the breaths, if not questioning. "I feel like I just had my body ripped in half," she whispered.

"Your pelvis was bruised and slightly cracked," Carlisle told her.

She gasped. "Oh my… _oww_…."

He took a deep breath. "Not many women could have done that Leah. You should feel pretty darn tough right now."

She took a deep, shaky breath. "I feel really weak…" she said. "Like all the energy has been drained from my body."

They were silent for a moment. "Do you want to see you husband and baby?" he asked her.

"Yes," she said eagerly. "_Please_."

Joel stood up, and my mom followed him with the baby. I caught a glimpse of the room, seeing as they didn't shut the door. Leah was lying completely flat on the floor, with a pillow under her head and blanket spread over her body. She looked like she wouldn't be moving for a few days, but she smiled when Joel came in. "Was it a girl?" she asked. Joel nodded. She sighed. "Let me hold her," she practically begged.

My mom was already sliding Paige into Leah's arms. Joel pushed his arm under her head so she could see the baby without straining her neck. Leah smiled. "Joel," she said. "She's beautiful."

"I know," he said. "She looks like Alexis."

"She has blue eyes?" Leah asked. All of her children had inherited Joel's electric blue eyes.

"Of course," Joel said.

"She's tiny," Leah said. "A _lot_ tinier than she felt a few minutes ago."

"She's a little premature," Carlisle said. "But she's well developed, and I don't see any problems with her."

"That's good," Leah said. She kissed the sleeping baby's head. "You're turn," Leah said to Joel. "Time to meet Daddy."

Joel took the baby from her fluidly, and without hesitation. Leah fell gently back onto her pillow. Emily was sleeping silently now, and Sam was sitting quietly with his son beside her on the other side of the room. "I hate to say it," Carlisle said. "But you need to sleep Leah. In fact, everyone needs to sleep."

Joel and Sam looked up at the same time. "The babies can stay in here with you," my mom said. "I'll get a sheet to lay them on."

My mother found an extra sheet in the linen closet and brought it into the girl's bedroom. She spread it out in the small space between Leah and Emily. Sam laid Ryan down gently, and Joel laid Paige next to him. These kids would grow up together, and right now was no exception. Leah sighed contently and Carlisle and my mom left the room. I heard Joel kiss her head, and stretch out next to her. I could tell that they were asleep in only a few minutes. Carlisle looked at his watch. "It's about four am," he announced. "We need to give everybody more ibuprofen. Including the people I just told to go to sleep." He scrunched his eyebrows together. "Wow, I should've given them the medicine before that, I suppose."

I stood up. I walked in a tired daze over to where Carlisle was tossing out ibuprofen bottles. I caught the one he threw to me, grabbed a water bottle, and followed my mother into the garage. She went to the left, and I went to the right.

Most of the guys were still lying awake from the noises of the babies being born. Matt was the first one I came to. "Hey," I said, kneeling by him. "Here, its drugs, swallow it." I placed the ibuprofen to his lips and squirted some water into his mouth.

"Nessie," he said quietly.

"Yes?"

"I thought somebody was going to die."

I almost laughed at him, but I held it in. "And why did you think that?"

"There was screaming, and I was scared."

I almost laughed again. "Well," I said, I took a deep breath to abstain from cracking up. "That's generally what's going to happen when somebody has a baby with a cracked pelvis."

"What's that?"

"What's what?"

"A pelvis."

This time I did laugh, and I heard my mom snickering at the other end of the room. "It's a bone," I told him. I thought about what I said next. "Mom," I hissed.

"What?" she hissed back.

"Do guys have pelvises?"

"Yes," she hissed. "But they're used for different things then what we use them for."

"What do we use them for?"

"Ask your father."

"He'll tell me to ask you!"

She said nothing, and continued to give snickering people ibuprofen. I thought about what she had said. "_Oh_," I said suddenly. "_That's _what we use pelvises for."

She snickered again. "I think you're really going to learn what a pelvis is for in a few months."

"Will I?" I asked without skipping a beat.

She sighed, and the following silence was deafening. "I guess we don't know, huh?" she said a minute later.

"Nope," I said. "I guess we don't."

"Are you afraid?" I was asked for the second time that night.

"Not particularly," I told her simply. "At least not about giving birth."

"It doesn't matter," she said after another moment of silence.

"What doesn't matter?"

"When it's all over with, it doesn't matter how much it cost you, or how much it hurt you, because that baby was worth it."

I smiled a little to myself as I moved on to the next person. "I'm glad you think so," I told her.

We were silent as we moved down the line, pushing ibuprofen pills into people's mouths and squirting water down their throats. We met in the middle, where Brooke and Embry were laying. I gave Embry two pills and he swallowed them. "Is Leah _okay_?" Brooke asked.

"She will be," my mom said.

"I was scared," Brooke said.

"_I_ was scared," my mother told her. "And I'm not supposed to be scared."

"It's okay to be afraid," I told them both. "It means you're not crazy."

"_Gosh_, Nessie," my mom said. "Where did you learn to talk like that?"

"Uh, from my parents."

"Well who are they? They must be crazy, nobody says stuff like that."

We were silent as we stood up together and walked out of the room. Everyone else had already been given medicine, so I went back to the couch. "You guys need sleep," my mom told all of us. "I don't care how you do it or where you do it, but you need to get some sleep."

There were murmurs of agreement. Abbey just leaned back into the recliner and fell asleep right there. Kim moved Claire to the end of the couch and spread out on the other end. Rachel moved into Sam and Emily's room and lay down at the feet of the guys in there. I opened the door to Brandon's room, and shut it quietly behind me.

I could tell that Jacob wasn't asleep, though he didn't say anything. I pushed through the darkness until I could see him with my strong eyes. He was laying face up, and he smiled at me as I lay down next to him. "I love you," he whispered through the darkness.

"I love you too."

He put his hand on my slightly rounded stomach for the second time. "I love you," he whispered even more quietly.

Talking to our unborn child.

"I hope you love me too…"

I kissed him briefly on the lips. "Of course he loves you," I said. "_Of course_ our baby loves you."

He smiled through the darkness. "If you say so." This time he kissed me and I kissed him back momentarily.

"Do you have any ideas for names?" I asked, breaking away.

He frowned. "Not particularly." He sighed. "Though… I want the names we choose to have meaning… to have a past."

"Okay," I said. "I've got an idea for the girl's name. Just hear me out. Eila Sarie." I explained where and how I got the name and he laughed.

"I like it," he told me. "It's perfect." I told him the boy's name and he thought it was nice. The girl's name was a definite hit though. I fell asleep completely happy, wrapped in Jacob's warm, strong though injured, arms.

I woke up to the sound of clattering pots and pans. Jacob was still waking up next to me. I could smell flour, vanilla, syrup, and butter. Pancakes. Jacob took a deep breath as he woke up and winced. The pain medication was wearing off. I looked at my watch. It read nine am. Five hours of sleep. Could be worse…

I was obviously missing my classes today, or should I say _class_. All I had was my music ed. class on Tuesdays. All we did in that class was learn about a different instrument from seven to twelve on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, every week. This week we were learning about the piano. Oh yeah, I was missing a lot there.

"Ow," Jacob said calmly.

"What hurts?" I asked.

"Oh you know…" he winced again. "Yeah, pretty much everything."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"It's not your fault, but I appreciate the sympathy." He sniffed. "You know, if my stomach didn't feel like it had liquid-stitch in it right now, that might smell good."

I gave him a sympathetic look. "You know," I said. "I would love to lay here and not move for about a week… but that's not going to happen unfortunately. I'm sure my parents need help."

He sighed, and winced again. "You're a good person Nessie," he said. "Better than me."

I shook my head with a smile as the realization that I had to leave him again hit me. "Whatever you say."

I forced myself up and out of the room. I walked past the still waking up girls in the living room, and wound up in the kitchen where my father was flipping pancakes and my mother was getting them ready to serve. Kyle and Nathan were still laying in a corner over by where the table was. They were flinching and wincing awake. "Good morning," my dad told me.

"Good morning," I immediately responded.

He looked at me and his mouth fell open slightly. "Um, Ness, I think you should go home and shower."

I looked at myself. Still in the clothes from the night before, I looked horrible covered in dried mud and blood. It was nauseating.

"Yeah," I said. I walked back to Jacob and told him what I would be doing. He laughed at me, and told me good-bye.

I sprinted out the front door and across the road and went inside through our backdoor. I stripped my clothes off, and was in the hot shower in seconds. I let the hot water flow down my body and run through my hair. I lathered up and let the power of the water rinse me off.

I reached to turn the water off, but something stopped me. I paused in mid reach. I touched my stomach. The faintest of movements. There was a… flutter beneath my chest. I jumped.

The baby was moving.

There was something _moving_ inside me. Our baby was _there_, and _real_, and it was letting me know that. I gasped, remembering to breathe. The baby moved again, more prominently. It was like it was testing its limits… seeing how much room it had to move around.

I turned off the water and jumped out of the shower. I got dressed, towel dried my hair, and let it hang down, nice and curly. I was back at Sam and Emily's house about ten minutes after I left. "That was fast," my mom said as I came in through the front door.

"Yeah," I said. My parents were still cooking away.

My mom sighed. "I think we should try to get a few of the better-off guys to come in here or go into the living room and eat. It would be good for their recovery I think."

"Good idea," Carlisle said, coming out of Sam and Emily's bedroom. "Whoever we can get up should come eat what you made. The others… I don't know if some of them are even able to eat right now. Others may only be able to have water, and maybe some crackers. We should give them ibuprofen before we try to get them up though."

"Ok," my dad said. "Let's see who's feeling good, and who's feeling not so good."

Abbey came and stood by me in the doorway to the kitchen. "How can I help?" she asked. She looked tired, but not nearly as gory as I had.

My mom looked at her, but I knew she was about to address us both. "You can go talk to some of the guys… see if their feeling good or not, and try to get them to come and eat. Here," she threw both Abbey and I a half empty bottle of aspirin and a water bottle.

"Okay," she said. She went off toward Sam and Emily's room, and I went off toward the garage. I opened the door, and shut it behind me so the light from the kitchen wouldn't hurt their eyes.

I went to Brady first. He had his eyes open, and I knew that he hadn't had any broken bones, and only had four stitches in his arm. They were all bruised and cut though, and that was what would bother them the most. "Hey," I said.

He looked at me. "Here's some aspirin," I said. I pushed two into his mouth and squirted some water down his throat.

"Thanks," he said.

"No problem," I told him. "So…" I started. "How are you feeling?"

He stretched his arms, and legs, flexing his muscles slightly. "Well…" he said. "I'm feeling pretty tight and sore… but not too bad."

"Okay," I said. "Do you want to try and get up and eat something? My dad made pancakes, and it'll make you feel better if you eat something and maybe get a shower."

He nodded. "That sounds good." He looked at Lauren who was lying next to him. "How are you feeling?" he asked her.

She stretched too, and winced slightly. "Okay I guess," she said. "My head hurts pretty badly. I smacked it on the ground when I got knocked down."

I gave her some aspirin. "How's your leg?" She had needed seventeen stitches going up her left calf and past her knee for a cut that had gone almost to the bone.

"Not horrible," she sighed. "I mean… it hurts a little, but it could be worse."

"You want to get up and get some food too?"

"Yeah," she said. "I'll eat something."

I helped them both up and sent them into the kitchen. Lauren limped heavily, but was at least able to move. I ended up getting Embry, Collin, Wyatt, Brooke, Kaylie, and a very shaken, but thankfully not severely injured Bryce out of the garage and into the kitchen. Lucas, Caleb, Matt, Quil and Jared were in too much pain to get up at the moment. I reported the news back to my father. Abbey had gotten Seth, Paul, and Jeremy all up to eat as well. Kyle was sitting at the kitchen table as well, but my mom had moved Nathan into the quiet garage so he could get some more sleep. I checked on Jacob myself. He had tried to get up, but when I pulled on his arm he winced and moaned slightly. I made him lay back down. "So," I said.

"So," he repeated, breathless from the effort it had taken him to try to get up.

I wanted to share my news with him. "I felt the baby move," I blurted out.

His mouth fell open. "Really?" He said questioningly. "This soon?"

"Yeah," I said. "It was… strange. I mean… there's something moving inside of me, something alive."

He nodded. "I can't even imagine."

I smiled. "This baby is coming fast I guess," I said. "Faster than either of us will be ready for."

"You got that right," he muttered. He yawned.

"Try to get some more rest," I told him. "Do you feel like you can eat anything?"

He shook his head. "Not really. Maybe some water would be okay."

"Would you like me to move you out into the garage so you can at least have some company?"

"That would be nice."

I scooped him up gently and walked him quickly to the dark garage where I laid him down next to Jared. "I'll be in here with something to eat soon probably," I told them all quietly.

My mom talked Sam and Joel into coming out and eating a little bit. Leah was still completely asleep, as were Paige and Ryan. Emily was awake, but happy to stay lying there with her new baby. I brought a box of crackers and a water bottle into the garage and passed them out to the guys. They shared the water bottle, but most could only take a few sips. They all got down a few crackers, but most could barely chew and swallow. I left them talking quietly to each other.

I came into the kitchen and leaned against the counter by Abbey. I listened to the conversations surrounding me. I was as shocked as everyone in the kitchen when Emily walked through the doorway with a sleeping Ryan over her shoulder. The kitchen went silent.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"Um," said Sam. "You had a baby like, eight hours ago."

She nodded and shrugged her shoulders. "Yep," she said. "And now I'm hungry."

"Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I guess I should be sore or something, but I'm not."

"I told you you wouldn't be sore," my mom said. "You've done this four times…"

"Right," Emily said. She smiled.

"Seth," Abbey said. Everyone looked at her, but she kept her eyes on Seth's. "I have to tell you something."

"Shoot," he told her calmly.

"I'm pregnant."

No one moved. No one spoke. I watched Seth's mouth fall open. "You're… pregnant?"

"Yep."

More silence. My dad cracked up a second later, and everyone else followed. I watched Seth's face turn into the sloppy grin I had known my whole life. He stood up and wrapped Abbey in his arms. I was laughing at this point, and so was she.

"That makes two of us," Kaylie blurted out.

"Three of us," Lauren said. They both had identical looks on their faces. They looked like they hadn't meant to tell anybody this way.

They turned to each other. "You're pregnant?" They said at the same time. "No way!"

"Lauren," Brady said. "You are pregnant? And so is Kaylie?"

She nodded with wide eyes. "Yeah…"

He had her in his arms next, and Collin followed. The room was absolutely hysterical.

"Hold on!" my father yelled. The room got quiet. "Come on…" he said to no one in particular, waving his hands as if to gesture someone to speak.

"What?" my mom questioned.

"I'm waiting for someone else to say their pregnant. Four pregnancies is simply not enough."

My mom laughed and then cut herself off mid-giggle. "No seriously," she said. "If anyone else is pregnant, just say it."

"You sure you're not pregnant again Emily?" my father asked.

"I had a baby eight hours ago."

"Why wait?" he was smirking my inherited smile now.

She shook her head. "Good one."

The room broke off into smaller conversations. I breathed out the rest of my laughter. It was good to know that Jacob and I wouldn't be the only clueless parents in the near future. Our baby would be… different, but we would all experience the same things in one way or another. Abbey came back to stand by me and I gave her a hug. She smiled at me. "All for one and one for all?"

"Of course," I said. "You know the rule; just ask me once and I'll come running."

Abbey and I had developed quite a friendship over the years. Though she was really about twelve years older than me, we had kind of grown up together. I'd known her since about my first birthday and she's known me since Seth imprinted on her when she was thirteen. When I had started High School she had only been a sophomore herself. We had both been through some hard things together… just on different sides of the old treaty line.

"I was thinking," Sam said a while later. Everyone quieted almost immediately. All eyes were on him. "I think… I think we should try to find out about these other… uh… shape-shifters. We don't know who they are, where they're from, where they live now, what culture they are… the list is endless. All we know is that I found human footprints disappearing into thin air, and after I called all of you there and we phased back, we were attacked by a group of eagles. _Large_ eagles. _Unnatural_ eagles."

"Are you positive they were eagles?" I asked.

Several voices came back at me with positive answers. They were _sure_ that the birds had been eagles.

"Okay," I said. "And you found the prints up by Port Angeles…" I thought for a moment. "If we're using logic, I don't think there's any way that they could live in Port Angeles or anywhere in the state of Washington for that matter. We've all been all over this state. Unless they've just recently, and I mean _very_ recently, changed, it's not likely they live anywhere near us."

"They weren't newly changed," Brady said. "I'd say there were about thirty of them, and they were vicious. They attacked us without any warning… or any mercy."

"I see," I said. "Like wild animals."

My dad snapped his fingers together as if coming to a conclusion. "That could be it," he said. "What if some of them _were_ wild animals?"

"Yeah," I said. "Like they had almost… mixed in with the shape-shifting eagles. Did anyone notice anything like that? Were some of them different than the others?"

"Yeah…" Kaylie said quietly, like she was thinking. "Yeah… there were two on me, and one was smaller than the other. It was… more natural, but less agile than the bigger one. Its beak wasn't as sharp, and its talons didn't cut as deep. It's crazy that I realize this all now… but I'm positive that's what happened."

"I believe you," I said. "Sometimes your memory just needs a jump start. Especially after traumatic experiences."

"Yeah…" Bryce muttered. "The one attacking me was small… and backed off after it got a few good snaps and scratches at me. I got knocked down because I got hit in the back with something… I think it was an eagle trying to fly over me to get to someone else…"

"Well, it probably didn't help that I fell on you, Bryce," Wyatt said.

"That was you?"

"Yep, I was like, 'Crap, I just fell on Bryce.' Then I rolled off of you and onto Nathan. I'm kind of worried I hurt him." Wyatt was, as always, thinking out loud. "Then I rolled off of Nathan and I was next to either Lauren or Kaylie, I'm not sure which. I got a mouthful of mud and spat it out at whoever was in front of me. Sorry about that."

"Wow," I said. "You sound like you were confused."

Wyatt nodded. "Very confused."

"Don't worry, I would be confused too," I told him.

"So…" Paul said. "Where do we go from here?"


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

Everyone was quiet, trying to comprehend a way to find out more about these people. My dad got there first, of course. "What did they smell like?" he asked. Everyone stared at him as they tried to put a smell into words. He smirked. "Never mind," he said. "I've got it." I smiled to myself. All they had to do was think about the smell and he was good to go. "Maybe…" he said. "I could track them. But if they were air borne… there's not a good chance I'll be able to find them further than a few miles radius out from where we found you. The only thing else I can think of is to keep our ears open, and research. Somebody must have seen these large eagles at some point… and if the sightings became common, or happened more than once, there might be reports we can find on it. We might be able to piece together things we know, and things other people think they know to get a good estimate of where these… people… live."

"Jasper, Emmett, Connor, and Zach would have an absolute _blast_ trying to find these guys," Carlisle said. "I'd bet… if my thoughts are right… they could have piles of information on these guys within a week."

"Yeah," my dad said. "They generally just kill time anyways. They'd turn it into some form of competition…"

I guffawed. "It could get violent…"

"Andrea will watch them," my mother said. "If she's not at school with Zach that is…"

"When _in the_ world," I started. "Are those two _eve_r going to get _married_?"

"Jeez, Ness, don't rush them. They're still in High School," my dad said.

I waved a hand nonchalantly. "Why wait?"

"Because Andrea might be like your mother and say no," my dad answered.

My breath caught in my throat. _My_ mom had said no to _my_ dad? I'd never heard this story before. "You… said no?" I questioned.

They both nodded. "Yep," my mom said.

"_Why_?" I asked.

"Well…" my dad said. "She actually thought I was joking at the time. And she didn't say no, I believe the words 'be serious' and 'I'm only eighteen' and 'no rings' and 'kiss of death' all came out of her mouth at some point."

"Gosh mom," I said. "You let him down _hard_."

She nodded. "I was taught by my mother to avoid marriage like it was the plague. I had a total meltdown when he proposed."

"So… when did you say yes?" I asked.

"Oh," my dad said. "At about two in the morning on my bedroom floor."

I scrunched my eyebrows together and looked away from them, trying to comprehend why they would be on _any_ floor at two in the morning and why he proposed _there_.

"Why didn't you say yes at first but said yes then?" I asked. The whole room was watching us.

"We had some… agreements… to work out," my mom said.

I thought about that. "Oh _you would_," I said letting the sarcasm drip. "You _would_ come up with an agreement about things before you got married."

"Well that's the only way I got her to marry me," my father said with a smile.

"So you had to _bribe_ her to marry you?" I said taunting.

My dad smirked. "Haven't you figured out what I had to bribe her with yet?" he asked.

"No…" I said, feeling like I was missing something. Carlisle was just barely containing his laughter from being audible, though he was shaking in the shoulders from his silent fit. "I don't get it," I said shaking my head.

"Okay…" my mom said. "Just think of it this way; you _and_ Jacob should be very happy we made this agreement."

"So…" I said, starting to pace. "Something Jacob is grateful for that I'm grateful for…" I thought out loud. "What is Jacob grateful for? He's grateful for our house… and our families… and our friends… and…" _Me_. I thought to myself.

The realization of what they had agreed upon suddenly hit me. "_No_…" I said turning to them slowly. "You _did not_ agree to _do that_!"

"Yes," my mother said, rubbing her hands together maliciously. "_Yes we did_."

My mouth fell open. "_Why_?" Why would any couple who knew they wanted to get married have to decide to have sex? It's not a decision! Or at least not a decision that should stop you from getting married. I'd never seen my father as a pushy person… or someone who would want to have sex before marriage.

"Dad!" I said. "Why would you want to have sex _before_ you got married?"

"Oh no!" he said. "I was the one who made her wait _until _we were married! Like I said before, that's the only reason she would marry me!"

"Mom!" I squealed. "You wouldn't marry him unless he would have _sex _with you? Who does that?"

"I was scared," she said smiling, almost pleading me to understand. "I was afraid those… feelings would… go away… after."

There was a beat of silence. "Oh," I said, comprehending. I blinked.

"And we got mean with each other," my mom said. "We were _cruel_."

My dad nodded. "It started out with, 'I'll turn you into a vampire if you marry me.' And then it was, 'I'll marry you if you have sex with me.' And we ended up with, 'You marry me, we have sex, I turn you into a vampire."

I nodded slowly. "Sounds complicated."

"Oh _hell_," my mom said. "You have no _idea_."

"I suppose I ruined everything," I said. "There was no plan for a baby in there."

They both shook their head, glancing at each other. "No," my mom said. "You just… changed things. You made us stronger though, in the end. The fights we fought for you were worth it."

"What about the fighting over me?"

"That was worth it too," my dad said. "You pushed me to some limits I didn't know people could live through. Everything is easier now."

"And of course," my mom said. "You obviously changed our lives…" her eyes clouded over. "Whoa," she said a minute later. "I just had a little flashback moment there…"

"Of what?" my dad asked.

"Oh, pretty much Nessie's whole life," she said.

"That's a lot to think about…" I said.

"No," my dad said. "Nine years doesn't seem very long when you've seen one-hundred-and-sixteen of them."

I nodded. "I guess it doesn't."

"You were like…" he started. "Just a blink in my life. You were there one second and then you were gone the next. Like a shooting star."

"You know," I said. "I'm still here."

He looked at me. "Okay," he said. "But the little girl running through the woods in ribbons and curls isn't."

"We all have to grow up sometime," I said. "I just grew up a little faster than most people would."

"You got that right," Carlisle said, finally overcoming his laughs.

I nodded. "And now…" I said. "I'm pregnant. And nobody knows what's going to happen."

"Hey," my dad said. "It could be worse."

"How so?"

"Everybody could know that you were going to die. So maybe _not_ knowing is better."

"Hm," I said. "Good point."

The room broke off into smaller conversations again. I just stayed quiet, leaning against the counter, not listening to anyone in particular.

Another small flutter in my stomach. I jumped a little out of surprise. This kick wasn't any harder than the first, but still just as monumental. No one noticed the thing going on inside of me, but just the same, my baby was there; it was real.

A few of the guys who were doing really well decided to try to get home. I brought my charger over and drove anyone who needed a ride to their house so that they could shower, eat, and sleep some more. My parents would be seeing them soon though so they could check on their injuries and to take their stitches out.

Brooke and Embry stopped to pick up their happy-to-see-their-parents twins, and I gave them a ride home. Paul and Rachel picked up their kids as well. Soon, the only people left at Sam and Emily's house were Jacob, Leah, Joel, Claire, Kim, Lucas, Caleb, Kyle, Quil, Jared and me. It still sounded like a lot of people, but when you compared it to the amount of people that had been there a few hours ago, it really wasn't that many.

Leah had woken up again when I got back to the house after dropping people off all over the reservation. She still wasn't strong enough to walk, but Carlisle said if she ate something, and started feeling a little bit better, she might be able to go home by tomorrow night. Emily and Sam were completely willing in their generosity to let people stay at their house for now. I was planning on moving Jacob across the street to our house as soon as possible, but I didn't know how soon that would be.

Jacob was still in the garage with the other guys when I came in the front door. They had all been drifting in and out of sleep for the whole day, and had only eaten and drank enough to stay hydrated. They were talking to each other a little bit, but mostly resting and sleeping. I went in to check on them.

They were awake right now, and I figured they could all use some company that wasn't each other's. "Hi," I said as I sat down at Jacob's feet.

"Hi," he sighed tiredly.

"How are you?" I asked.

"I'm doing better… kind of wish I was feeling good enough to go home."

I nodded. "I wish you were too. How's everybody else?"

"Tired," Jared said.

"I know the feeling," I told him. I yawned. "I saw your kids. They were running around outside with Leah and Joel's kids like lunatics. It was quite amusing. My poor grandfather was just letting them go."

Jared laughed a little. "I'll bet it was funny."

"It was hilarious," I told him. "They were all screaming and yelling and falling down on the grass. Nick was like a little ring leader. It was cute."

He sighed. "I miss them."

I nodded. "You'll see them soon."

He blinked. "Right."

I rubbed Jacob's good leg absently. "How's Bryce?" Caleb asked.

"Oh," I said. "He's… okay. He was pretty shaken up, but he's not very talkative. I brought him home a little while ago. He seemed fine. He wasn't hurt too badly."

"How's Leah?" Jacob asked.

"She was awake when I came in," I told him. "But she's not going to be getting out of here anytime soon."

"Mm," he said. "I see."

"Is Joel okay?"

"He is now," I told him. "He was really… scared when my mom made him leave. _I_ was really scared though." I guffawed. "_She_ was really scared."

"What happened exactly?" Lucas asked.

"Well," I said. "I think… I'm not totally sure because it was pretty chaotic. But I _think_… She passed out… But…" I tried to put the conversations I heard together. "I don't think the baby was out of her yet… It was kind of hard to tell, since I only heard the conversations taking place. Ask Abbey."

Jacob pondered what I had said. "Then," he said a moment later. "How the _hell_ did they get the baby out?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess…" I thought back to the conversations I had heard again. "I guess they just pulled."

"That would hurt," Kyle said.

"I assume it would," I agreed.

We were silent for a while. "You should go home, Nessie," Jacob said.

I shook my head. "I'm fine," I told him.

"No," he said. "You're not, that's why you're yawning."

"I'm just tired."

"So go home and sleep."

"Or I could stay here with you and _not _go home and sleep," I argued.

He sighed. "You know, if I didn't know how much stubbornness you inherited from your parents, I might try to argue with you."

I smiled. "At least you know a lost battle before you start it."

"Hm," he said.

I sat with them all for about an hour. I told them all about what we had come up with on the things that had attacked them. I talked about what our plan of action was from this point forward and they all thought it was a pretty reasonable way to try and find these guys. I left them when they started to fall asleep again. I walked out of the warm garage and into the living room where Claire was sleeping on the couch, curled up into a ball. Claire was now a small but strong eleven-year-old on the verge of womanhood, and I expected _that_ little gift to be coming to her any day now.

Leah was still awake, and Joel was with her. She couldn't move much from the waist down without it hurting, but she had got something to eat and drink, and she sounded like she was feeling better. The babies slept all or most of the day at this point, so Leah wasn't having trouble taking care of her daughter even though she could only hold and feed her. That's all a baby needed at this age… Sleep, food, and someone to love them. It didn't sound like a hard task to take care of a baby when you said it that way… Yet I knew that it was much harder than it seemed.

In my opinion… babies were sleepless nights, high-pitched cries, and a whole lot more when they got older. But babies were so much _more_ than that as well. They were someone to comfort, and someone to spend your life protecting. In this case, a baby would be someone to teach a lifestyle that they may or may not have ever wanted. Our baby would also be a symbol, a physical being, representing the love that Jacob and I shared. No one could ever say we didn't love each other, our daughter or son would be living proof.

I wished Jacob was here with me now, and not laying hurt on a garage floor with five other people I cared about. I needed Jacob, and I would always need Jacob, no matter what anyone says about 'independence' and 'being your own woman'. I was not ashamed to admit that if Jacob was ever taken from me… like I had thought he was last night… I didn't think I would survive.

Perhaps being pregnant was causing me to be slightly melodramatic. I smiled to myself. Claire woke up gently next to me. She stretched and yawned. "Hey," she said.

I yawned as well. "Hey." I stretched my shoulders, and noticed that I felt a little tight in my abdomen. "So," I said. "I guess you missed school today."

She blinked. "Oh yeah," she said. "I guess it is Tuesday."

I nodded with a grim smile. "Yeah, I missed my classes today too."

She waved her hand dismissively. "It doesn't matter. I've had good attendance this year, and I'm ahead in most of my classes."

"Really?" I said. "How did you do that?"

She raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes. "Believe me," she said. "It wasn't easy. I just paid attention to my classes for a while, and then I realized that the order of lessons we do goes in a pattern. Once I figured that out, I just started doing the next assignment the night before we learned it. Eventually I got pretty far ahead of all of my classes."

I nodded. "That's really smart," I told her. "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I'd like to be a hairdresser, but I also like learning about things in the medical world."

"Like what kinds of things?"

She smiled sheepishly. "Sports medicine. Like an athletic trainer."

"That's awesome," I told her. "Are you into music?"

She nodded. "Good," I said. "Maybe by the time you're in High School I'll be teaching it around town."

She smiled. "That would be awesome."

A baby started crying in the kitchen, and we both turned our heads to the sound. I heard Emily shushing him gently, but with experience.

I brought Jacob home early the next morning. He couldn't do much, but we got to spend some time together. Jacob literally _made_ me go to my afternoon classes that day. I called in between classes to check on him, but he insisted he was okay each time I did. I got home late that night around nine; I had had a class that didn't start until six, and didn't end until seven thirty. I walked into our bedroom almost immediately when I got home. Jacob was sound asleep, so I came in quietly.

I left the lights off as I put my bag down at the end of our bed. Jacob wasn't even snoring, he was so wiped out. I slid into bed next to Jacob and gently placed my lips on his cheek. His eyes slowly opened. "Hi…" he sighed quietly.

"Hi…" I sighed back. Just then, the baby moved again. I jumped in surprise.

"What?" Jacob asked of my sudden reaction.

I placed his hand on my stomach. "Can you feel that?" I asked him.

He was quiet as the baby stirred slightly in my womb. He smiled. "Yeah…" he said. "Just barely."

I smiled. "I love you," I told him.

He kissed my lips. "I love you too."

I let him hold me as he slept, and I felt sleep coming for me soon too. I gently slid out from under his arm, and he only stirred slightly as I climbed out of bed and changed into my pajamas. It was still pretty early for me to go to bed, but something about being pregnant just wiped me out. I crawled under the covers and pressed myself to Jacob. I was asleep within minutes.

The next two weeks of my pregnancy came gently. The morning sickness had subsided long ago, and my stomach was beginning to protrude more. I wasn't sure how much longer I would be able to attend college. I was only eight weeks pregnant, but my dad said I looked like I could be at sixteen weeks. I wasn't missing any classes, and nobody had commented on my still-petite bump yet, but I knew it would come soon. I was wearing looser clothes, and nobody paid much attention to me in class anyways. I figured, considering the uniqueness of this pregnancy, that our baby would be born after me being pregnant for only about twenty weeks. My parents and Carlisle had agreed with me. I was just going to play my schooling by ear for now. People would start noticing if I looked sixteen weeks pregnant one week and the next I looked eighteen weeks. We would have to dance on a fine line...

On the Friday night of my eighth week of pregnancy, Sam and Emily decided to have a cook out. It was just getting warm enough for one, and we were all excited to be getting together. Jacob and I were the last ones at the cookout because I had just gotten home from my classes. I went into the house to help Emily bring some of the food trays out. Rachel, Kim, Abbey, Lauren, and Claire were all helping as well.

I lifted my tray of food and went to follow Claire out the back door.

The sight I saw made me freeze in my tracks for only half a second.

There was a dark red stain on the seat of Claire's jeans… a stain any woman anywhere would recognize. I had to stop her before she got out there…

I dropped my tray back onto the counter. "Claire!" I said loudly. I sprinted to her before she had time to react. I grabbed her by the wrist and covered her mouth as I yanked her inside. She squealed through my hand and dropped the package of sodas she had been carrying. They hit the floor with a loud _thump_ as I dragged her to the bathroom. Everyone outside turned to see what had been dropped, but I didn't give them anything to stare at as I pulled Claire away.

I shut the bathroom door behind us and I turned to face Claire.

"_What_?" she asked. "_Why _did you do that?"

"Uh…" I said. I _really_ didn't know how to do this. "Um… you need to look at the back of your pants," I said slowly and awkwardly.

She turned around to look at her butt and did a double take. She turned back to me and her olive-toned face went completely white.

"Oh my gosh…" she said in a rush.

"Don't worry," I said quietly, hoping the guys weren't listening. "Nobody saw anything."

She was shaking a little. "What am I supposed to do?" she asked desperately.

"Take a deep breath," I said. "Uh…. Hold on…"

I stepped out of the bathroom. I could _not_ do this by myself. I walked out the screen door and over to where Emily was sitting with Sam and her baby.

"Emily!" I hissed. She looked over at me. "We have a situation!"

She looked confused. "_What_? What's the situation?"

"Emily," I said. "Think about what happened in the last two minutes of your life."

"Claire was carrying the soda…." She thought out loud. "And then you grabbed her and she dropped the soda as you dragged her to the-"

She cut herself off as she put the pieces of the puzzle together. "_Oh_!"She said as she came to the conclusion. Leah, who was still somewhat recovering from the difficult birth, had been listening quietly and started to giggle as she came to the conclusion too. "Oh boy!" Emily said. "Uh…"

"We _have_ to _do_ something!" I said in a low tone.

"I don't know what to do!" Emily said.

"You're supposed to!" I said back.

"Well somebody's got to do _something_," Abbey said as she came to the conclusion as well. Most of the people in the circle were listening to our somewhat confusing conversation now.

Emily gave the baby to Sam and stood up. "Well girls," she said with a sigh. She tugged her shirt down. "I'm going in."

She took two steps toward the back door. "I've got your back," I said as I started to follow her.

Brooke giggled. "You're my hero Emily!" She said jokingly.

Lauren and Kaylie were both doubled over in silent laughter as we made our way into the house.

"Talk!" Leah commanded the circle as we entered the back door. "You do not want to hear what's about to go down in there!"

The very confused men started to talk amongst each other again. Emily took a deep breath before opening the bathroom door.

About twenty minutes later I was sitting in the circle around the fire again. I had run to Claire's house to grab her a new pair of jeans and to talk to her mom. Her mother had been completely shocked when I had told her the…um… good news. Emily was still inside with Claire. Jacob squeezed my hand as I sat down next to him.

"So," Jacob said.

"So…?" I repeated him.

"You mind telling me why you tackled Claire?"

I rolled my eyes. "Nope," I said. "I don't mind telling you."

The half-listening circle was quiet almost immediately. He was looking at me expectantly. I just sat there. "Are you… going to tell me?" Jacob asked.

I nodded. "Yep."

"Then shoot."

I looked around the circle. "I don't mind telling _you_. Though it could get a little awkward if I told the whole circle."

He rolled his eyes at me. "I think they can handle awkward."

Lauren and Kaylie were giggling again. I started to smile and shook my head. "No…. they can't handle _this _awkward."

He scratched his head. "If you say so." He rolled his shoulders backward. "Where is your family tonight?"


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

"Andrea and Zach are… uh… hopefully making wise decisions. Julia and Connor were going with Rosalie and Emmett and Alice and Jasper up to Denali this weekend. They want to visit I guess. Carlisle and Esme… I think they're going to look at a house Esme might be renovating soon. My parents are working and most likely enjoying the empty house."

"I see," he said.

Claire came out of the house then. She sat down by Quil, and only got a few curious glances. She was probably pretty embarrassed right about now…

"Hey!" I jumped as Andrea came running out of the woods behind me.

"Whoa!" I said. She skidded to a halt in front of me. Zach stopped just short of running in to her. I caught my breath as everyone else in the circle came to terms with what was going on. "Jeez," I said. "Gosh, Andrea," I pushed the air out of my lungs. "Are you trying to kill me? Jeez, I'm pregnant for gosh's sake! You're going kill either me or my baby!"

"Oh," she said. "Sorry."

"Well…" I said. "Now that we've established the fact that you almost just became a murderer; what do you need?"

Zach slapped his forehead with his hand and left it there. "Here we go…" he muttered.

"This can't me good…" Jacob stated.

"Go ahead…" I offered timidly.

Andrea shifted her weight awkwardly. "Uh…" she seemed hesitant now. "We want to have sex but we don't know if we should."

The circle got dead quiet in half a second. One of the kids coughed as they continued to play with each other over by the house. I took a deep breath and forgot to close my mouth. My eyes were probably huge. "_Oh_…" I said. "_Wow_."

She was looking at me expectantly. "Well what should we do?" she asked after a minute. She was talking almost too fast for me to understand.

"Um," I said. "Uh… you should talk about it."

She threw her hands up in the air. "We _did_!" She screeched. "For a _really_ long time!"

"And?" I asked calmly.

"We can't decide!" she sighed in frustration. "We need someone to _intervene_!"

"Okay," I said. I _really_ didn't know how to do this… "Where do you stand on the subject Andrea?"

She flopped herself on the ground in front of me. She took a calming breath. "I definitely, without a doubt, with no hesitation, want to have sex with Zach. But…"

"But?" I prompted.

She sighed. "He's leaving, Ness. He's going to college… in Europe… and that's somewhere I can't follow him to right now."

I nodded. "So you're afraid…"

"Either I'll miss him a lot or miss him a lot and regret not doing what we could've done when we had the chance." She finished my thought.

I nodded. "I see," I said. "You guys have never been apart have you?"

"No," they both answered at the same time. "Not since the beginning at least…" Andrea finished.

I thought about their situation some more. "How do you feel about it Zach?"

He was still standing with his face in his hands. His head snapped up. "You know," he said. "Some families talk about _normal _things. Like… football! But no, not our family! We have to talk about our sexual relationships with each other!"

He took a step away from me. "_No_!" I hissed. "_Sit_!" He froze. "_Do it_!" I demanded.

He slowly sat down next to Andrea. "Now," I said. "I _know_ this is going to be awkward. I _know_ getting you to talk about your feelings is going to be like pulling your teeth out. But _so help me_ Zach, I will _call_ Jasper and _make _you talk about your feelings!"

"No," Zach said. "That's okay, really. I'll talk..." His eyes were wide.

I smiled menacingly at him. "Okay," I said. "Now that that's taken care of, how do you feel about the subject?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes at me. "I don't know," he said. "I feel like… I feel like we have forever to do anything we want… so why rush? My gosh we're only like…what? Eighteen and fifteen? Would you have had sex with anyone at this point in your life if things had been… different Andrea?"

She shrugged her shoulders shallowly. "Would I have met anyone like you if things had been different?"

He put his face in his hands. "I don't know. There's so much I _don't know_."

"Well you can't think about the would-haves," I said. "Because they're didn't-haves now. Just think about right here, and right now, nothing else."

"Okay…" Andrea said.

Zach took a deep breath. "I don't… _have_ to go to Europe for college. At least not _now_."

"Zachary, I _told you_," Andrea spouted off. "You are _not _giving up what you want for me."

"Sometimes you have to give up what you want for people you love."

"Okay then," she said briskly. "_I love_ you, and _I want_ you. This is me giving you up."

"_Or_," said Zach. "_I love_ you, and _I want _you, but I also want to go to college in Europe. This is me giving that up."

"This is impossible!" Andrea said, throwing her hands in the air.

"Maybe it is," Zach agreed.

We were quiet for a minute. "You guys haven't thought of something." I finally said.

"And what's that?" Zach asked in his calm voice.

"You guys are leaving soon."

There was a beat of absolute and completely deafening silence. "Yes," Andrea said after a while. "But… I don't see how that fixes anything."

I took a deep breath. "I won't pretend to understand," I started. "I've never lived anywhere but Forks... I've never moved on. _But_," I continued. "What I do know, is that when you move… you get to change. You don't have to be Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's foster child anymore. You don't even have to move to the same place as them if you don't want to. You could be their adopted child, or their birth child, or Alice's sister, or Emmett's twin. The list is endless. You'll all decide on the story before you leave…" I laughed a little. "My parents could even go back to High School. You all could."

"So…" Zach said.

"So," I repeated. "Andrea doesn't have to be only a junior in High School next year. She could be a freshman in college. A college in Europe…"

"_Oh_…." They both said at the same time.

"But," I continued. "I do have to tell you; the younger you are when you start out somewhere, the longer you get to stay there. My family has been here for about fourteen years. _Think_ about that. My dad has been pulling off seventeen for fourteen years! That's crazy!"

"That's screwed up…" Zach said.

I shrugged. "Probably."

Andrea took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "There's so much out there," she said. "So much good, and bad… and all the other things in between. It's… disconcerting."

"What about here?" I asked.

"Excuse me?" she asked, confused.

"What about here?" I repeated. "What's here? Good, bad or in between?"

Her eyes searched the circle for a second. "Good," she said. "Very, _very _good."

She had a very convenient talent. It could get her out of a lot of dangerous situations… it could get _us_ out of a lot of dangerous situations. To know if someone was good before you knew them… to know who was bad and dangerous before you had to learn the hard way.

I smiled after a minute. "I can't make the decision for you," I said with a shrug. They both sighed. "But," I said after a second. "I_ can_ clear the house out for you."

They laughed. "You wouldn't have to try very hard," Zach said.

"Right?" I said concurringly. "All I'd have to do is scream 'Andrea and Zach are going to have sex!' and that place would _clear out_."

"True that," Andrea said with a smile. "I know I'd run."

"Oh my gosh," Zach said randomly. "You're mom and dad are going to be grandparents!"

"No!" I said sarcastically. "Since when?"

They both laughed. "That's crazy!" Zach said. "Oh wait," he said after a few more laughs. "What does that make me?"

"Well," I said, dragging out the word. "Technically, it should make you a great uncle. But considering I've only known you for about three years and never called _any_ of you uncle or aunt, you'll probably just stay Zach."

"That's cool," Zach said. "Cause let's face it; I'm _way_ too young to be a great uncle."

"Yeah…" I said. "But look at it this way; there's going to be three generations in only about thirty years. That's not exactly common."

"That's not even _supposed_ to be physically possible," Andrea said.

I shrugged. "I don't know," I countered. "I guess a fifteen year old could have a baby, and then that baby could have a baby at fifteen."

"Isn't that what practically happened?" Jacob threw in jokingly.

"Nah," I said. "My mom was a little older than fifteen." I nodded slowly. "I'm the freak-of-nature."

"We all are," Andrea said. "Let's make a club."

"Then I want to be the freak of the freaks-of-nature."

"It's good to have ambition," Andrea said with an eye roll as she stood up, pulling Zach with her. "Well," she said. "Let's go home. Or we could not. Let's just leave here."

"Agreed," Zach said. "Good-bye," he called in a sing-song voice.

"Bye," I said softly as they took off.

I put my head in my hand. "Weird things happen to me Jacob._ Very_ weird things."

He rolled his eyes. "Those two are crazy."

"Yeah…. They'll be okay though," I told him.

I leaned my head on his shoulder and listened to the conversations around me get under way again. Jacob's hand was absentmindedly going up and down my arm. I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent.

The next weeks passed quickly. Pregnancy is funny like that. Time speeds by when all you want it to do is slow down, just so you can cherish it more. I was a full twelve weeks pregnant before a girl in my music ed. class finally got up the nerve to ask me. My pregnancy was going by at about twice as fast as it should, so I looked like I was about twenty-four weeks along at that point. I had told her I was six-months pregnant, and she had had no problem believing me.

I figured I could probably pull off going to school for another six weeks or so, but I would be looking about thirty-six weeks then, and people would start noticing things. If my calculations were correct, I would have to miss about five weeks of school. I didn't know how that would work out… If I talked to my teachers, I know I could somehow work out something with them so that Jacob could pick up my work for me every week or something… it would just be inconvenient.

Five more weeks passed. I was getting larger. I had dropped something on the floor one day and when I had bent down to pick it up; I had lost my balance and fallen over. I had been concerned that I had hurt the baby, but at my next check-up, Carlisle had said everything seemed fine.

Jacob and I were at Joel and Leah's house one night. Brooke and Embry were there as well, and they had brought over their twins. I had been in the kitchen with Leah when it had happened.

I had been stirring the salad dressing and walking it over to Leah. The baby had been moving restlessly all day, but had been mercifully still the night previous. All of a sudden, there was a harsh, sharp, stabbing pain in my side, and I heard a dull crack.

"Oh!" I said with a gasp as I clutched my side. The dressing fell to ground as I did and slid across the floor. I was lying on my side, in a loose impression of the fetal position. Leah had dropped to my side in an instant.

I groaned. "Sh," she said comfortingly. "You're okay…" But even she sounded uncertain.

Jacob was behind me next. I was breathing hard. He gently put one hand on my shoulder and one hand on my hip. "What happened?" he asked me calmly.

"I-" I gasped. "Don't- know-" I let my air out threw my nose, like my mom had taught me to do when I was scared, or panicking.

"What hurts?" he asked more specifically.

"My…." I blew out more air. "Side."

"The baby probably broke a rib," Brooke offered. She had snuck in without me noticing.

"Considering the crack I heard," I said heavily. "Yeah, probably."

"What side are you comfortable on?" Leah asked.

"My back," I pushed out.

They gently helped me get over onto my back. "You should…" I started to tell Jacob he should call my mom, but he already had the phone to his ear. He gave me a small smile. He only talked on the phone for about three minutes. She had basically told him- after having a thirty second freak-out that is- that he shouldn't let me sit or stand, and to get me over there so they could wrap me up.

It only hurt minimally as Jacob gently scooped me into his arms and held me close. Leah got the car started, and Jake laid the seat back and set me next to him; shot-gun. The only sound on the way over to the big white house was the quiet stereo. Jacob held my hand, and it was comforting.

My dad turned on the porch lights as we pulled in. Jacob parked the car gently, and brought me up to the house. "Hi," he said quietly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just dandy, dad," I told him. "Just dandy."

"I enjoy the sarcasm," he commented.

"I got it from you."

"It's fun, right?"

"Yup. This actually hurts."

"I'll bet it does," he said. "Let's see what we can do about that."

Jacob's hand stroked the back of my neck gently as we walked up to Carlisle's office. He set me down on the table and sat down in a chair near my head. My mom was already there. "Carlisle's at work," she said. "So I guess we'll be taking care of you tonight." She gave me a small smile and I returned it. My dad was already rummaging through cupboards looking for something to wrap my rib cage in so it wouldn't hurt me anymore. "Which side are you hurt on?" My mom asked.

I pointed to my right side. The baby moved again, and I bit my lip as the whimper escaped through my clenched lips. Jacob and I grabbed for each other's hands at the same time. "Okay…" my mom said as she picked up on what had just happened. "We obviously can't x-ray it, but I'll get it wrapped just as fast as I can…" she peeled back my shirt and looked at where the rib was obviously broken. She didn't touch it, just looked.

"Okay," she said as if coming to a decision on something. My dad literally tossed her the wrap he had found and went to write down something on a yellow clipboard I knew well. My whole life was practically on that clipboard…. My birth was documented there, my childhood, my teenage years, any time I had gotten hurt or reached a landmark, and now my pregnancy. I guessed they were writing all these things down in case… well, in case something like… me… happened again. It wasn't likely… but nobody else should ever have to go through what my parents went through if the impossible reoccurred.

My mom took the wrap and expertly started to slide it around my front. "Hold her back up, Jake," my mom said. Jacob pushed his arm underneath me and lifted my back up gently. He turned his strong arm so that I was leaning on it like I would lean on a recliner. I smiled at him, and he smiled back. My mom wrapped me up tight so fast that I barely knew when it was starting and when it was over. She sealed it off with the now familiar medi-wrap and Jacob lowered me back onto the table.

"That was fast," I said.

"Oh yeah," my mom said. "I've had practice believe it or not."

We smiled at each other again. "So…" I said. "If this happens again…"

"You should do exactly what you did tonight," she finished my sentence.

Jacob took me home after we got done at the big white house. I was pretty tired. We had all been spending a little bit… or a lot… of time looking up things about these eagles that had attacked the wolves a few weeks ago. It was difficult to find _any_thing on them, but my mom and Julia were leading the searches. They had both discovered vampires as humans… so why couldn't they discover something else? At least that's how they looked at it. We had found out a few things though. There were many mentions of 'transforming' or 'changing' creatures throughout history… especially in Native American cultures. There were rare mentions of the types of animals or creatures these people turned into though. We found a legend about a group of natives in Montana that turned into bears… but we had decided to cross that bridge when we came to it.

My family could only do so much in tracking these creatures. We found bits and pieces of them everywhere… but because they were airborne so often we could rarely find them in the same place for more than a few yards. Emmett and Jasper had begun to look for information of these people in books, and legends. It had been a long, hard struggle, but Emmett had finally found something. He had found it in a book about as thick as a piece of paper. He had had to translate it from an old language that was so rare it was almost extinct. After a few nights on the web though, he had finally gotten a rough translation scrawled out. It wasn't much, but it was the first time we had found anything related to humans changing into eagles. There was a mention of it in a legend that came from a rare Native American culture called _Achomawi._ There weren't many of them left, but the mention of people changing into eagles is intertwined with another of their legends. It involved a year when fish were running low and 'our brothers took to the sky as powerful birds'. 'Powerful birds' was used commonly in older times as the equivalent of an eagle, and occasionally a hawk. It wasn't much of a foundation to build on, but we had to start somewhere.

The only Achomawi reservation in the country was called Alturas. It was near the Oregon state border in Northeast California. It was a very small reservation, even smaller than La Push. There were only about a hundred people who lived there now. If there were about fifteen of them that had mixed in with real eagles, which is what we predicted, it must be a _very_ hard secret to keep. We hadn't decided if we were going to go down to the Alturas reservation yet or not… mostly because we wouldn't know what to do when we got there. We didn't really expect the 'eagles' to really live there, seeing as they had seemed to intermix with real eagles. So what could we do? We couldn't exactly go around knocking on people's doors, seeing if they knew about their neighbors bursting into eagles.

Jacob held his arm around my waist as we walked into the house that night. I couldn't feel the broken rib at all, but I moved on it gingerly, testing my limits. I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and oversized t-shirt when we got into our room and pulled my hair up off of my face and into a ponytail. On the way home, Jacob and I had agreed that I couldn't go to school anymore. I was going to head up to the college tomorrow so I could try to talk to my professors. Most of them either had classes or planning they had to do on Saturdays, so I figured I could find all of them. I was going to go with the story that I was being put on bed rest, and explain to them that my husband would be coming up every Monday to collect my work for the class. I would communicate with my professors through email if I needed to get a hold of them, and I could go online for help if I needed it I'm sure. Besides, I was only taking a few classes over the summer, and only a few were offered that actually applied to my major. It shouldn't be a problem… I couldn't have been the first pregnant college student that they had ever taught. Like most nights, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. My sleep was dreamless, and I woke up with Jacob by my side.

It took us all afternoon the next day to go to and from the college, and to find and talk to all of my professors in between. We got home around five, and we had fun making up dinner together. We almost burned the house down. It was pretty funny after we put out the small flames, but scary when we realized that the food had caught on fire. The smoke detector didn't go off, but we both thought it was going to.

I knew my pregnancy was coming to an end. The last few weeks were slipping by quickly. I was keeping myself busy during the day with schoolwork, and spending time hunting and sleeping at night. Weeks sixteen and seventeen flew by in a rush of schoolwork and phone calls for my upcoming job, and weeks eighteen and nineteen slipped by while we were setting up the baby's new room, and getting ready to have another person in the house. We were both getting nervous… but we were also getting excited.

I was starting to wonder about when I would go into labor, and what would happen when I did. Where would I be, and who would be with me? Would Jacob be there? Who else would be with me? I couldn't get up anymore without someone pulling me. I was still keeping up on my schoolwork, though it was sometimes hard since I was so tired. There wasn't much to do… I just had to remember to read my chapters basically. I hadn't had any more broken bones, but the baby had made a few bruises around my midsection. Jacob had rubbed ice all over the bruises, and even though it had melted between our hot bodies, the pain of the bruises had dulled.

On one of the nights in what we assumed would be my last week of pregnancy, we were at Sam and Emily's house. People tended to gather there. It was now late July, and my summer session classes of school were going to end sometime next week. I was going to have to get up to the college sometime after the baby was born to take my final exams. I was sitting straight-backed on Sam and Emily's couch with a now three-month old Ryan on my knees. He was asleep, and I was just keeping an eye on him.

My subconscious mind knew someone was coming before my conscious one did. I heard fast footsteps, and recognized the steady and familiar beat my father's gentle feet made on the wet ground. He was at the door before I could think of why he would be coming here. He knocked.

"Come in!" Sam said in a slightly raised voice.

My father opened the door and I knew something was wrong before he said anything. The look on his face was horrendous. It was somewhere between fear, worry, panic, and a calm face fighting to take control.

"What's wrong?" I asked in a blank voice without saying hello.

He took a deep breath. "Alice saw something," he said calmly.

My heart stopped. "What?" I demanded. "_What _did she see?"

He closed his eyes. "The vampires that attacked the Denali's around this time last year…" I could remember this happening while we were on our camping trip. "They know who we are, and they know that we helped them. When they fought with the Denali's, Andrew killed one of their family members. They want revenge, and they want it badly. They're…"

"Coming to kill you," I finished for him in a shocked voice. He nodded his head gravely. I didn't know how I had known what he was going to say… but I had. It was something inside of me… probably the fact that I knew vampires, and I _knew _what vampires were capable of. I also knew what most vampires would do if someone they loved was killed. I let out a shaky breath, and knew that my face was now mirroring my father's. "How many?" I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. "The outcome could go either way. There were a lot of them… at least that's what Alice saw. Some seemed young… and some seemed not so young. " I just stared at him. "The Denali's are coming down," he added.

I nodded my head slowly. "When?" I asked.

He bit his bottom lip. "In about three hours."

I felt the air rush out of me. Three hours? That was it? That was barely enough time for the Denali's to get down here. "Why didn't Alice see it sooner?" I asked, and I barely recognized my own shock struck voice.

He shook his head. "We don't know."

I closed my eyes, and bit my lip as well. "What do you need me to do dad?"


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

"Look at me," he said. I looked at him. "I," he said calmly and slowly. "Want you to get into a car, and drive until the road ends. Do you know where I'm talking about?" I nodded. "Then," he said. "I want you to get out of the car, and run as fast and as far away as you can."

I stared at him in shock. "And… leave my family here?" I questioned. He didn't respond. "_To_ _die_?" I added with a shaky voice. You could've heard a pin drop.

He looked down at the floor. "You wouldn't be any help," he said bluntly. "Not now anyways." He looked up at me. "_Do you know_," he asked me. "How angry some vampires would be at the fact that we're even alive? _Do you know_ how angry they would be to know that you're here? And pregnant none the less?"

I cocked an eyebrow. "They don't want me here, and they don't want you here. We're different, and they don't like it. What's the difference?"

"The difference," he said. "Is that one; they don't get to pick how vampires live their lives. I'm a vampire, and no matter how much they hate me, they _will_ respect that and treat me as an equal. Two; not all of them understand what you are. Or they don't care to understand. Three; you are fish on the line to them. They would find the weakest link in the chain, and that would be the end of it."

"You're going to make me leave aren't you?" I asked him after a minute.

He rolled his eyes and smiled slightly. "I learned a long time ago that I can't make you do anything Renesmee."

"But you want me to leave," I said.

He nodded slowly. "I'm begging you to leave," he said almost silently. The emotion in his voice was clear.

Knowing that my battle was lost and that I was going to give in anyway, I relaxed my shoulders where I stood. Now all I had to do was say goodbye. I blinked my eyes to clear them. "Dad," I said. He locked eyes with mine. "I love you," I said.

He gave me a genuine smile, though I could see it was twisted with worry. "I love you too."

Jacob took my hand and started to pull me past my father out the front door. "See you pretty baby," my father said.

I turned to look at him. He hadn't called me _that_ in years. I gave him a questioning look, and then returned the smirk he was giving me. "Yeah," I said. "See you."

Jacob pulled me out the front door without looking back and we climbed into my car. As I slammed the door shut, I heard Caleb, who was at the house as well, say, "You know I'll fight with you." And then the chorus of agreeing voices following his. I met Jacob's eyes, and he squeezed my hand. We pulled out of the driveway and left our families, and part of ourselves, behind. My only hope was that it wouldn't be for forever.

Jacob and I drove in silence. He kept my hand held tightly. I didn't want to start crying, but I did. Jacob didn't comment on my tears. He just squeezed my hand tighter. He knew there was nothing he could say that would make this any better. I didn't let the thoughts of what could happen enter my mind. I thought about the baby squirming in my stomach, and the man sitting next to me that I loved. I wouldn't have been able to have the life I have now without him. He'd been the dawn after the dark for _so_ long; I didn't know what I would do without him. He was giving me the baby that I had always wanted, and I could never thank him enough for that.

We drove for about two hours until the road ended, and when we couldn't drive any further, Jacob squealed the car to a stop. We looked at each other, and then opened the door at the same time. Jacob came around to my side of the car and helped me up. "Hey…" he said before he let me walk past him. He wrapped me into a hug, and I squeezed back. I buried my face in his chest, and he stroked the back of my head. My swollen stomach was pressed up against his abdomen and when the baby moved, I knew he could feel it. He kept comforting me for a while, but before long we both knew we were going to have to start running like my dad had instructed.

We broke apart, and he led me into the familiar woods that my parents had taken me through so many times before. I knew that these were the woods that my mother had seen my father in the sunlight in, and where they had made some of the biggest decisions of their lives. It was like their presence was still here… but it wasn't the parents I knew. It was the faded image of them… the crazy high schoolers who were so in love that the world could've ended and they wouldn't've noticed. It was my human mother, and my gentle and stubborn father.

Jacob and I ran fast considering I was nine months pregnant, but there had been days when we could've gone ten times faster. We didn't speak, we just ran. I didn't know where we were going, but it was away from here.

We had been running for a while when it first happened.

I felt a tight, sharp pain in my lower abdomen, but it had eased before I could respond. My eyebrows furrowed together, and I tried not to think about what had probably just occurred.

We kept running.

When it happened again, I gasped at how sudden and strong the pain was. It was like there was a weight being pressed on my stomach from all sides while needles punctured my skin. Jacob gave me a questioning look as the pain eased, but I just shook my head, and we kept running.

The next pain was so severe it brought me to a stop. I fell onto my knees with my hands clutched around my sides. It felt like I couldn't breathe, and like I was suffocating while I was stuck in my own body. I didn't know much about labor… but I did know that it wasn't supposed to hurt this bad on only the third contraction. This was _not_ about to be a normal birth… Through my pain I could feel Jacob's arms around me, talking to me. He was worried, but not panicked. He didn't know what was going on, but he was there for me.

As the cloud of pain began to ease from my body, I started to focus in on other things. I could hear what Jacob was saying, not just the tone his voice was taking. "Sh, Ness…" he was saying. "It's okay, it's okay…" he was whispering the comfort into my ear. He could tell when I was actually hearing him. "What happened?" he asked me quietly. His face was next to mine so that I could see his eyes.

I let my breathing slow. "I went into labor," I told him bluntly.

He kept his face even, and nodded silently. "Jake," I continued. I took a few more deep breaths, comprehending what was about to happen. "It's _not _supposed to hurt this bad. I've only had three contractions and they're already bringing me to my knees? That's not right." I breathed in and out slowly. "This isn't going to be a normal birth…" I finished breathlessly.

He kept his arms around me. I could see the fear fighting to shine through in his eyes. He blinked, and then sighed. "It's going to be okay…" he told me.

I was crying. "This is going to hurt," I whispered.

He rubbed the back of my neck and nodded. "Yes," he agreed. He kept rubbing my back gently. "But if it makes you feel any better, it'll probably be quick."

I gave him a small smile through my tears. "Thanks for trying…"

He returned my small smile. I could feel the next contraction coming before it hit me full force. I started to take deep breaths and embraced the pain as it hit me like a semi. I felt Jacob's arms close tight around me, and I tried to focus through the blinding pain on his voice, and what he felt like pressed up against my body. I was pushing against him, thrashing almost. I felt him lean backward off of me so that my back was leaning against him as he held himself up. I thought the water in the damp ground was seeping through my jeans, but I soon realized that that wasn't the case. My water broke with a rushing sound, and I could hear Jacob in my ear again.

He was scared, I could tell, but his words were still comforting to me. As the contraction eased, I could feel the sobs shaking through my body. Jacob had his chin pressed into the crook of my shoulder and my head was flopped back over his shoulder. I was panting, and I was completely drenched in sweat. Jacob was wiping my hair off of my face. I was shaking severely, and I could feel the baby moving lower into my body.

I kept panting until I could breathe normally again. Jacob was talking to me. "Sh, easy Ness, you're okay. I'm here, I'm here." He kissed my neck. "It's okay sweetheart…"

He was rubbing his hand up and down my arm. I opened my eyes slowly. Jacob's dark eyes met my chocolate ones, and he smiled. I smiled a little as well. "How much longer do you think?" he asked quietly.

I shook my head. "Not much longer…"

The next contraction came with no warning. I tensed in Jacob's arms and tried to let the pain course through my body, knowing it would end sooner that way. I knew I was moaning, and possibly screaming, but I couldn't hear myself. And if I could, I didn't realize it was me making that noise. My eyes flew open as the contraction worsened. I felt Jacob pushing his hands into my clenched fists so that I could squeeze something. He met my eyes and this time I heard myself yell.

He wasn't panicking, but the pain in his eyes was my own. He didn't say anything, but his eyes were speaking words of their own. As this contraction came to a slow stop, I didn't waste time catching my breath. I knew it was time.

"Jacob," I gasped. "Jake…" I pushed the air out of my lungs. "It's time. The baby…" I gasped again. "Is here…"

He nodded. "Push on the next contraction," he told me quietly.

I nodded, and he barely had time to get in front of me before the next contraction hit. I spread my legs apart and bore down hard with my head pushed forward harshly onto my chest. I didn't realize how much pain you could live through until I was pushed that far. I heard Jacob encouraging me to keep pushing as it kept getting harder. I could feel the baby's head low, near my legs. I was crying, but I didn't realize how hard until the contraction ended. I was breathing, and Jacob reached his hand out to me. He held my hand, and told me how proud of me he was. "Jacob," I said as I panted. "Jacob, get your shoelace… you'll need to tie off the cord." He did as I told him, and just in time.

The next contraction began to course through my body, and I prayed it would be the last. I was full out screaming this time. It felt like the baby was trying to rip its way out of my body. I had my eyes open as I rolled my head back onto my shoulders. I could see the dark sky, and the silent moon, and my screams sounded out of place in the warm stillness of July. I pressed my mouth shut, and the yells were muffled slightly. Rain began to fall.

"That's it…" I heard Jacob say. "Just let it all out." He was silent for a minute, and I took a deep breath in. "I can see the head," he said a moment later. I saw him smile.

I moaned and kept pushing. I knew I was almost there. I could feel that the baby's head was almost out. As I fought the battle inside my body, pushing this baby out, I knew somewhere else that my family and friends were fighting a battle too.

The contraction ceased again, and I stopped pushing. I panted, trying to catch my breath. "Good girl," Jacob said. "You're crowning sweetheart, this is it. Just one more push… just one more push."

The contraction came within the minute. It felt like I was being burned with fire as I felt our baby's head slip out. "Stop pushing…" Jacob said quietly. "Okay," he said. "I'm going to pull, and you just push as hard as you can Ness, as hard as you can." He reached up to brush my hair away from my face, and our eyes met. He looked worried, but not afraid. I tried to remember how strong he was, and to take that strength for my own.

I took a deep breath in and lifted my head to the sky again, letting the rain wash over my face. "Push," Jacob said. I moaned again as the fire within me smarted. I felt the scream on my lips, and I felt the baby slip out of my body.

I looked down to see our baby, and cried as Jacob gently lifted it into my arms. "Eila," he said breathlessly. The little girl in my arms cried a strong, healthy cry, and I cried with her. She was here… she was finally here. "Sh," I comforted her, holding her to my chest. "Sh, baby girl, sh."

Jacob gently ripped the cord, and I held our little girl out to him as he tied her life-line with shaking hands. He pulled his shirt off of his back and tore it at the seams to make a thin blanket for her. He wrapped her in it as the rain mixed with our tears. He came up next to me and I gently shifted our still squirming Eila into his arms. He kissed me on the cheek, and then bent down and gently placed a kiss on her small cheek as well. The afterbirth had come out right along with Eila, and I almost laughed as I saw the blood covering Jacob's hands. My blood… and his blood… mixed all together in this beautiful baby that was ours. He was crying along with Eila and I. He held his arm around me and I leaned my tired body into his as we stared at our beautiful little girl.

She was the perfect mix of me and Jacob together. Her skin was the palest of browns, like the color of cinnamon sugar. Her eyes, though they were squinting, were my mothers. She had the face my father had given me, although her nose was Jacob's. Her little hand curled into a fist around my finger, and I could tell she was much stronger than a normal baby. Her hair was very dark, black like Jacob's. Her locks, though short, were already forming into the perfectly loose ringlets my mother had given me.

We sat for the longest time. We both just kept staring at each other, then looking back at her. As the rain became more severe, Jacob shifted Eila Sarie back into my arms, stood up, and in one smooth move, scooped me into his arms. He carried my limp body a few feet away until we were under the tallest tree in sight. The tree's branches sheltered us from the worst of the rain, and Jacob kept me in his arms as he sat down.

"We did it," I whispered to him as we watched her sleep.

"You did it," he corrected. He kissed me on the cheek again. "I'm so proud of you," he told me. "You were so strong."

I blinked the tears out of my eyes. "It… hurt so badly," I admitted. "Nothing could've prepared me for that. It… felt like she was clawing her way out of me almost."

He stroked the back of my head and shrugged his shoulders. "She was alert when she was born," he told me. "Her eyes were wide open. For all we know; she could've been clawing her way out of you."

After a while longer of sitting in the silence, I knew I couldn't sit there much longer. If I did, the thoughts of what could be happening back in Forks would begin to haunt me. "We need to keep moving," I told Jacob quietly.

He looked at me miraculously. "You just had a baby," he said, stating the obvious.

I nodded. "We need to keep moving," I said again.

He stared at me for a second, and then gracefully stood up with me in his arms. I cradled Eila to my chest as he took off running. The rain pelted us, but Eila was safe and warm wrapped in my arms. We ran for at least another hour. Her heart beat was almost as quick as mine, but not quite as rapid. Jacob's cell phone rang as we came to small boulder that I knew well from past trips into the woods. The noise was loud and unnatural in the quiet, raining woods.

He came to a stop and we moved under another tree to sit down. He answered the phone in the next second. "It's your dad," he muttered. I sighed a sigh of relief. "Hello?" he answered.

"Hey," my dad said. He sounded okay. "Everything's fine," he added quickly.

Jacob and I both breathed a sigh of relief. "What happened?" Jacob asked.

"It didn't turn out to be much of a fight. They weren't counting on there being as many of us as there were. Julia kicked butt, but she was bit quite a few times. Connor's got her though, she'll be okay. Bryce got a little tore up around the shoulders, but he'll be okay in few hours. Are you guys okay?" he asked.

Right on cue, Eila began crying. It was a full-fledged wail within a second. She was just letting her grandpa know that she was here. I heard my father literally gasp. "She…" he started. "No… she didn't…"

"She did," Jacob said, and I could hear the pride in his voice.

"Oh my gosh…" my dad said. I could hear my family shrieking in the background.

"Her name is Eila," Jacob said.

"And Nessie?" my dad questioned.

"She did great," Jacob said confidently.

I heard my dad laugh. "Where are you?" he asked.

Jacob described where we were, and my dad told him they'd be waiting for us at our house. Jacob agreed with him, and I heard my mom squealing in my father's ear as Jacob hung up the phone.

We moved quickly through the woods back to my car, and I laid the seat back as Jacob laid Eila in my arms. He kissed me again. "I love you," he told me.

I kissed him on the lips. "I love you too," I promised.

"I love you," we both said at the same time as we looked at Eila. Her little lips formed into a smile in her sleep.

I only slept minimally on the way home. Jacob drove through the blinding rain with his wipers turned up. Eila lay still and sleepy in my arms for the whole ride. She wasn't fussy like a normal baby would be. She seemed to just be taking in the world she now belonged in. It was a crazy world, but she would find her place in it, just like I had. I could see the amount of people in our house before we were all the way up the street. My entire family, plus the Denali's, and all of the wolves and their wives were there. Claire was even peeking out the window. Jacob pulled the car into our driveway, and an almost-silence filled the house. All that was there was breathing and whispers.

It was now about two am. Jacob put the car in park, and looked over at me and the sleeping angel in my arms. She sighed contently in her sleep. Jacob sighed. "I have a feeling her life is about to become a whole lot louder," he noted.

I laughed a little, and winced. I was sore. "Yeah," I said. "I'm thinking you're probably right."

He smiled at me again, then opened the door and stepped out into the warm rain. He came around to the other side of the car and gingerly gave me a hand out of the car. He put his arm around my waist. I didn't think I had gained a single pound while being pregnant… I could barely see the bump that had been so clearly defined just a few hours ago. My tough skin was pulling it back into its original size quite nicely in my opinion. The walk to the house was short, and I kept Eila pressed to my chest, and leaned my tired body on Jacob.

He turned the door knob slowly and we cautiously shuffled into the house. The heat wave hit us like a brick wall, but Eila barely stirred. I kept my eyes down until we were already in the house with the door closed behind us. I slowly lifted my eyes upward until I could see the faces of those surrounding me.

I saw my mom's face first, and then my father's. My mom smiled at me, and I smiled back. I held out Eila, who was still only wrapped in Jacob's ripped, wet, and blood-stained t-shirt so that she could see her sleeping face. My mom put her hand over her mouth when she saw her. She took in a shaky breath. "Are you okay?" she asked me, still not taking her eyes off Eila. I could hear the raw emotion in her voice.

"Yes," I said clearly. "If not a little tired," I added.

"She's beautiful," my mom said bluntly.

I sniffed. "I know." I took a deep breath. "Do you want to hold her?" I asked.

"Yes," she said in a rush.

She walked toward me in one quick second. She stopped, and as gentle as snow, like the color of her skin, I set the baby in her arms. Her expression was hard for me to read. It was happy, and filled with wonder. I didn't know what kind of grandmother my mom would be… But if this was any sign, she was going to spoil this little girl to death. I knew she loved her, because she loved me, and would love anything that was mine. She held the baby close to her, but still far enough away so that she could see her sleeping face.

"Life's funny," she said after a minute. She paused for another second. "It's so cyclical… and continuous… It's… crazy."

I smiled. "Yeah…" I said. "Usually."

She held the baby out to me. "Here," she said. I took Eila from her. "Hold onto her…" my mom said. "She won't stay with you long enough to waste a single moment."

I held Eila to me gently. Her new eyes blinked open. Her brown eyes stared up at me sleepily and she yawned. I noticed she already had a few white baby teeth. Just enough to bite on something…"What do you think she eats?" Jacob asked abruptly.

I looked at him. "I have _no_ idea."

He shrugged his shoulders tiredly. "I guess we'll find out."

A thought occurred to me. I looked up at my mom. "What if she's venomous?" I questioned.

"I don't think she is," my dad spoke up. "You're not, so why would she be?"

"Traits skip generations," I said contradictorily.

"I don't think this one did."

"How do you know?"

"Jacob," he said. "Put your finger in her mouth."

Jacob did this without hesitation. Eila's eyes seemed very nonchalant as she sucked on her father's finger. Jacob didn't flinch as her few, tiny teeth bit into his finger, but pulled it away from her as soon as it started to bleed. Jacob seemed okay…

"Considering he's not dead, I don't think she's venomous," my dad commented. "And she'll want blood," he added. "Hence biting Jacob's finger."

Jacob raised his eyebrows. "Wow…" he said. "I could've just died."

"Yep," my dad said.

"Do you have any clothes for her yet?" my mom asked.

"A few," I said. "But we didn't know she was going to be a girl, so just a few things I think. They're in her room."

My mom was gone in the blink of an eye. I heard her rummaging through a few drawers, and then came back. "Here," she said.

She had found a diaper and a white onesie she could be dressed in for now. "Thanks," I said taking them in my other hand. I knelt down gingerly and dressed her quickly on the floor. I supported her neck and stood back up within the minute. I gently handed her to Jacob. He hadn't got to hold her much.

Jacob sighed. "I suppose I should probably call my dad…" Jacob said as he rocked her gently back to sleep.

"I already did," Rachel said. "He's in your kitchen…"

Billy was already wheeling his chair out of the kitchen. The people in front of the door moved out of his way. He said something quick and fast in Quileute. Jacob didn't respond, but he moved to his father and handed her our daughter. "Is Bryce okay?" Jacob asked no one in particular.

"He's fine," Lauren said. I noticed that she was just starting to show that she was pregnant. There was a very tiny bump between her hips. "He's at home." She sighed. "Mom only freaked out majorly…"

I shrugged. "I suppose that should've been expected."

"I suppose," Kaylie agreed.

I heard Billy wince suddenly and smelled the blood before I saw it. He held his hand up. "She bit me," he said sounding somewhat surprised.

I looked at him. "I'm…" I said, still too surprised to think. "_So _sorry…"

He chuckled. "No harm done," he said.

I blinked and kept my eyes shut. "She's thirsty…" I said quietly. I blew the air out of my lungs. I had two options; I could give her human blood, or I could start teaching her now not to drink human blood. One of them was the right thing to do; the other was the easier thing to do.

I shook my head. "I don't want to give her human blood…" I said to myself. "It'll be easier if she doesn't know what she's resisting." I sighed. "Now," I started. "The question is how the heck am I going to get her something else?"

"I know how," Emmet said suddenly.

I looked at him. "How?" I asked.

"I'll show you," he said.

I saw him grab something out of my cabinet as he ran out the back door of our house. I looked around. "I guess I'm supposed to follow him…"

I jogged out the door after him. I wasn't far into the woods when I watched Emmet bring a full sized deer to the ground in front of me. I watched with wide eyes as he quickly killed the deer, and then bit into its throat. The rain drizzled over head. He took the bleeding carcass and put something I recognized as one of my cups to the deer's throat. He put an enormous amount of pressure on the deer's neck and I watched as he squeezed the blood into the cup until it was full.

"Wow…" I said. It hadn't looked very hard… something I could definitely do for my daughter.

"See," he said. "It's a very simple concept."

He started running back to the house and I followed him. "Well," I said when we got there. "Thank-you."

"Anytime," he told me.

I walked into the house in front of him. I sighed. "That was one of the weirdest things I've ever experienced." I smiled to myself. "And that's saying something considering I just gave birth in the middle of the woods."

Jacob had taken Eila back from Billy, and had her laid across his long legs while sitting on the couch. She was awake, but she made no noise. "Okay…" I said, considering how I was about to do this. I walked into the nursery and found one of the unused bottles. I poured the blood into the bottle and put the lid back on. "If you have a queasy stomach, don't watch," I said as I came out of the room.

A few people looked at me, but my hand pretty much covered what I was carrying. I brought it to the couch where I sat down next to Jacob. "Here," I said, handing it to him. "You try first."

He gave me a look, and then took the bottle from me. He put the bottle towards Eila's mouth, and she flinched away from it at first. But the second time he put the bottle on her lips; she opened her mouth to it, and began to suck down the deer's blood.

"I guess she likes it," Jacob said.

"I guess so," I agreed. "Now," I said. "The only question is; how am I going to be able to get enough blood for her?"

"You can refrigerate blood," Carlisle said. "It'll stay good like that for a while."

"Ok…" I said. "So I can get it in quantities…"

"And don't be afraid to ask for help," my mom said. "You don't have to do this by yourself."

"Could I help her?" Jacob asked.

"Probably not," I told him. "It would be difficult for you, even if you could."


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

I heard the squelching sound of an empty bottle being sucked, and I looked down to see that Eila had drained her bottle already. Jacob pulled the bottle out of her mouth. She looked up sleepily at us, then closed her eyes and let herself drift off to sleep. "She sure is beautiful," Jacob said.

I nodded. "Yeah…"

"Who do you think she looks more like?" Kim asked.

"I'm not sure," I said. "She definitely has my eyes, and her hair color is Jacob's. But her hair is curly like mine. Her face… it looks like my face, but her nose is Jacob's, I think."

My head had ended up resting on Jacob's shoulder, and I had a feeling I would probably fall asleep there sometime in the near future.

"Dad?" I said, it was a statement, not a question.

"Yes?"

"Can you read her mind?"

"No," he said confidently, if not regretfully. "Not at all."

"Hm…" I said sleepily. "That could lead to something…"

"How long were you in labor?" Leah asked me.

I squinted my eyebrows together. "Uh…." I thought about that. "Jacob, how long was I in labor?"

"Uh…" he thought about it too. "An hour? Maybe? I don't know, it wasn't that long."

I rolled my eyes. "It was long enough."

"An _hour_?" Leah questioned.

I shrugged. "About that long."

She nodded. "So I'm betting it hurt really bad, really fast."

"Yeah…" I said. "We were running when the third contraction hit me, and it doubled me over."

"Wow," she said. She smirked. "What did your dear old husband do?"

I rolled my eyes again. "I don't know," I said. "I didn't even realize he was there until the contraction was over." I looked at Jacob. "Were you scared?"

"Yep," he admitted freely. "I didn't even know what was going on."

I smiled. "Yeah… I bet you figured that out pretty quick."

He nodded. "Yeah, it kind of helped when you told me though."

I took a deep breath in and let it out in a sigh. "I think I'm traumatized."

"So do I," Jacob agreed.

"You realize you just delivered a baby right?"

"Yeah… It hit me when we were driving home."

I blinked, and my eyes felt like they were going to stick closed. "Alright," Leah said loudly. "Clear out! She needs to sleep."

I opened my mouth to thank Leah, but the words wouldn't form on my tongue. I hadn't realized how tired I was until I had closed my eyes. The last thing I remember was my mom and dad each kissing the top of my head as they walked out the front door and into the rain.

I woke up what seemed like just five minutes later. Jacob was shaking my shoulder gently. I could hear Eila fussing nearby. Jacob had moved me into our room, and he was holding Eila in one arm. "Sorry," he said. "She's been crying for fifteen minutes though. I think she's hungry again."

I sat up slowly, and winced as I noticed how sore I was. "Okay," I said. I looked down at myself. I felt like I was covered in a clammy sweat. I thought about what I knew about pregnancy, and tried to put this sudden perspiration-like liquid into some form of logic through my sleepy mind. "Um…" I said. "You know what Jacob…" I thought for a minute more. "I think I can nurse her."

He squinted his tired eyebrows together. "Really?" he asked.

"I _think_ so…" I said again. "Give her to me."

He gently handed me the still fussing Eila. I cradled her to me, and pulled up my t-shirt. She seemed to know just what to do as she latched on to me, and I followed her lead. She stopped crying immediately. "I guess I can," I told Jacob.

He blinked tiredly. "That's a good thing," he said sleepily.

I nodded, and patted the empty space next to me. "Come on," I said. "You need to sleep. I'll put her back to bed."

He looked like he was going to argue for a second, but gave up before he even tried. He climbed into bed next to me, and he was asleep before I'd finished nursing Eila. She fell asleep after a while, and I gently pulled her away from me. She didn't fuss, and she didn't wake up as I slowly got out of bed and walked her to her nursery. I knew one of us would hear her if she cried, but I didn't think she would wake up again for a while. I kissed her little head, and laid her gently in her crib.

I walked the few short steps back to our bedroom, and crawled into bed next to Jacob. He wrapped his arms around me tiredly, and I wasn't even sure he was consciously doing it. I fell asleep within seconds of laying there.

I woke up a few hours later with sun streaming in on me. The events of last night started flooding back to me. There was silence in the house, and I listened intently for Eila's fast heart beat. I could hear it pounding away rapidly in the other room, and I could hear Jacob's heart pounding right next to my ear. The two sounds together comforted me.

I laid there for a long time, half asleep, half awake. What finally forced me out of Jacob's warm arms was when Eila woke up. She didn't cry, but I knew she was awake by the way her breathing became faster and her heart rate picked up speed. Jacob woke up as I pushed myself away from him.

He smiled. "Hey," he said sleepily.

"Hi," I said.

He laughed quietly. "We're parents," he said obviously.

I laughed with him. "I know," I told him. "And our daughter just woke up."

He sat up at the same time I did. We held hands as we walked into her nursery together. She smiled at us as we came into her room. She obviously couldn't sit up yet, but I knew she would be able to before most babies could. I could see the amount she had grown since being born just a few hours ago. It wasn't much, but she looked like she was at least a half inch longer. I wondered how long she would grow for… or if she would ever stop. It seemed most likely that she would be immortal… but there was no one who could know that for sure. I decided to just put those thoughts in the back of my mind, and worry about them when the time came. If it ever did…

"Did you wake up?" I asked her gently.

She smiled wider at me. I reached into her crib and brought her to me. I laid her across my shoulder, and she put her head down. Jacob smiled at me. "You two are a sight for sore eyes."

I smiled back at him. I slowly handed Eila to him, and one of her flailing hands brushed his cheek gently. "Whoa…" Jacob said.

"What?" I questioned.

"Uh…" He said. He placed her hand flat against his cheek and stood there silently. He pulled Eila's hand away from his cheek. I watched carefully as his eyes went from curiosity to understanding. "She can show me her thoughts," Jacob told me confidently.

"Really?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah," he told me. He put her hand to my face.

I waited expectantly… but nothing came. "Uh…" I said. "I can't see anything."

"That's…" he started. "Pretty crazy…"

"Yeah…" I said. "So… you can see her thoughts, but I can't." I thought for a moment. "You can read the wolf packs mind, and I can't." I came to a sudden revelation. "So maybe…" My mind carried me away. "Maybe all of the members of the wolf pack could see her thoughts. She can show her thoughts like me… but only to people like you. Plus she's a shield… like my mom."

"Jeez," he said. "That's… really weird."

I nodded my head in agreement. "Well…" I said. I shrugged my shoulders. "Let's get dressed… and then we'll see where and what the day brings us."

He nodded. "Alright," he said. "You shower first… and I'll watch her while I eat something."

"Okay," I agreed.

I was still filthy from the night before's events, and I watched as the mud ran off my legs in the shower. I scrubbed out my hair, and stretched out my small-again body. If there was any bump showing where the baby had been the night before, it wasn't there now. I couldn't detect a single thing about my body that suggested that I had just been pregnant. The only thing I noticed personally was how sore I was.

I got out of the shower and combed out my wet hair, letting it hang down today. My hair was thankfully just curly enough to be considered curly, not wavy, and the curls were just loose enough to be considered ringlets, not waves. Eila's hair would be the same…

I got dressed in some of my old clothes again, and enjoyed how comfortable they felt on me. I went out to the kitchen where I could hear Jacob talking to Eila.

"There's mommy," he told her as I came into the kitchen. "She's hungry," he told me.

"For what?" I asked.

"Whatever it is you nurse her with," he said as he put his cereal bowl in the dish washer. "By the way… what _do_ you nurse her with?"

"Well," I said. "I don't think there's a name for it. It's kind of like a… well, it looks like a watered down version of blood. It's more of a pinkish color… kind of like if you mixed blood with vanilla ice cream."

He cocked an eyebrow. "That's pretty strange," he said.

I shrugged. "I figure we should get used to it."

He handed me Eila, and then surrounded me in his arms. "I love you," he told me.

"I love you too," I promised.

He kissed me gently on the lips. "She's beautiful you know," I told him.

He looked down at Eila. "She is," he agreed. "But how could she not be, with you as her mother?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Go take a shower," I told him. I kissed him on the lips again, and let him go. He was even faster than me in the shower, and got dressed in some clean clothes. Eila watched me as I cleaned up the house, lying on a blanket in the middle of the living room. She was conscious, but silent.

"So I was thinking," I told Jacob as he came out of our room. "We should probably get this little girl some clothes."

"Alright," he said. "Where do you want to look?"

"Port Angeles probably has some not-so-badly priced things. Plus there's a thrift store up there. We could probably find some good stuff in there." I shrugged. "I figure we should probably buy the absolute minimum… and probably some bigger clothes as well. She's going to grow fast…"

He nodded. "You're right," he said. "How long do you think she'll stay in this size of clothing?"

"I don't know," I said. I sighed. "We should probably start measuring her… that way we can chart how fast she's growing. We might eventually be able to start predicting how big she's going to be at certain times."

"Okay," he said. "So how about we measure her everyday at," he looked at his watch. "Eight o'clock in the morning, and eight o'clock at night."

I smiled. "Do you have a tape measure?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm a guy, who works with cars. I _think_ I have a tape measure somewhere…" The sarcasm was evident.

He went out into the garage and came back with a tape measure a minute later. I had pulled Eila into my arms by then, and I held her while Jacob stretched her little body out in my arms. "She's twenty inches and a quarter," he announced.

He wrote it down on a piece of paper with the date and time and hung it on the fridge with a magnet. "Okay," he said. "Are you ready to head out then?"

"Uh…" I said. "Yes, but we should probably pack the diaper bag."

He chuckled. "Probably."

Jacob and I spent most of the day finding cheap, but still nice clothes for Eila. It wasn't extremely difficult, but we worked hard to find good deals. Having Eila with us made things a lot different than our days without Eila. It wasn't bad, just different. We were still Jacob and Nessie; we were just Jacob and Nessie with Eila now. I had to feed Eila quite a few times, but she didn't get extremely fussy. It was helpful, knowing that Jacob could put her hand to his face and know what she needed immediately.

As usual, when Jacob and I went into public, we generally got a lot of stares. A seven foot guy with a 5'3" girl usually made people look. And then when they saw the _muscles_ Jacob had… and the way I _looked_… Well, throw a little baby into that mix and you get the stares multiplied by ten.

People could be obnoxious, but we eventually got what we needed to get done. We put a sleeping Eila into her car seat, and drove home as the sun was setting. My mom called my cell phone to check up on us. She laughed as I told her about all the staring we had received. She was interested to hear that only Jacob could see her thoughts, and said we'd have to see what else we found out about this little girl.

When we got home, Eila had woken up. She was hungry, and I had to feed her again.

Jacob gave Eila a quick bath with a wash cloth while I had a battle with something new to me; a breast pump. After Jacob got Eila down and I was still wrestling with the machine, Jacob asked me if I would like some help. We spent another hour trying to figure out how to use the thing…. Until we found the directions on the back of the box. It was a… bonding experience for Jacob and I.

We both called it an early night after I finished filling a few bottles. Jacob had patrol at five am, and I was just as tired as he was. He kissed me good night, and we both fell asleep quickly. Eila only woke up twice in the night, and we took turns going to get her. I was going to hunt for myself and Eila tomorrow when Jacob got back from patrol. I was getting thirsty, and some straight blood would do her some good I figured.

Jacob and I measured Eila before I left. She had grown an entire inch from the time she was born, and had gained a little weight. It was scary how fast she was growing, but I was assuming it would start to slow down sooner or later. Eila looked like she was at least two weeks old, not two days old. Her miniscule barely-formed teeth were the only thing that made her look older than two weeks.

Kaylie and Colin invited us over for dinner that night. Lauren and Brady were coming of course, and Bryce was coming with them. We packed up Eila's diaper bag, and headed over to Colin and Kaylie's at about four. It was still nice out, so we decided to walk over there. It was cloudy of course, but it wasn't cold. Seventy-five degrees wasn't bad at all for Forks…

Kaylie let us in her front door. "Hey," she said as she opened it. The bump between her hips was visible, but not extremely noticeable. She would be due in about December… right along with Lauren and Abbey.

"Hi," I said. "How are you?"

"Great," she said. "How are you?"

"Good," I said as I wrapped her in a hug.

Jacob had Eila sleeping on his shoulder of course. We had already learned that he was better at putting her to sleep than I was. Bryce was sitting on the couch talking to Colin when we came in. They were looking at the sports section of the newspaper, talking about some baseball game last night. I followed Kaylie into her kitchen where she was busy cooking pasta and making a salad. I checked over my shoulder to make sure Jacob was okay with Eila, and then started helping Kaylie get her table set.

I knew something was wrong almost within that very minute. Jacob had stopped talking in mid-sentence. "Bryce…" he said, sounding confused.

"Uh…" Bryce said.

I heard Collin swear under his breath. I looked at Kaylie, and we both peeked around the wall of the kitchen to see what was going on in the living room. The sight I saw was confusing. I saw Jacob looking at Bryce carefully, and I could see that Eila was awake. She was staring right at Bryce, and he seemed to be staring right back at her. Her brown eyes weren't wide, or scared, just searching. They looked like mine, and my mother's.

"Bryce…" Jacob said again.

"Yeah?" Bryce answered, more clearly this time.

"Are… you okay?"

"I'm great," he said. His voice was an even tone.

"Do you want to tell me what the hell is going on?"

Bryce blinked. "Um," he said. It sounded more like a statement than a question.

Jacob closed his eyes, and gently laid Eila across his legs. He put his hand over his eyes. "You _didn't _Bryce…" he said quietly.

"I did," he said just as quietly.

"Please lie to me," Jacob said. "Please tell me you _did not _just imprint on my daughter!"

That's when I started swearing. I smacked my hand on my face. "_Really_ Bryce?" Bryce nodded, still not taking his eyes off of Eila. "_Why_…" I asked, dragging the word out.

"I don't know," he said.

Jacob's eyes met mine. "Now what?" he asked.

My eyes were huge, and I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know…" I said. My baby had literally just been taken from me, or at least that's how I felt. I thought about all the times my parents must have felt like this… must have felt like Jacob was stealing me somehow. I had never understood how that felt. That is; until now I hadn't. I thought I was in shock. I couldn't feel much of anything. All I saw was Jacob, staring at me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Eila, still staring at Bryce wonderingly.

I knew what we had to do… I just didn't want to do it. I always heard about how hard it was to let your child go. Like on their first day of school, on their first date, the first time they drive, when they go off to college… No one ever said anything about when they were only three days old. I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes. I bit my lip, and looked up at Jacob again. "Jacob," I said.

He stared at me. I blinked again, and sighed. "Give her to him," I said. Jacob's eyes merely squinted at me as he did what I said. "Come with me…" I said to him.

I walked quickly out of the living room with Jacob at my heels. I didn't look back, just because the sight of Eila being held by a teenage boy would probably send me fleeing back to her. I walked right through the kitchen and out the back door, into the sudden, yet expected, pouring rain.

Jacob followed me into the trees, and as soon as we were fairly deep in, I turned around and crashed into him. I buried my face in his chest and wrapped my arms around his waist. He held onto me more tightly than he ever had before, but I didn't care. He knew I was crying before I did, and he gently stroked the back of my head. "It's going to be okay…" he said.

"Mhm," I said through my tears. "It's going to be okay…"

"At least…" Jacob said a minute later. "At least she'll always be happy."

My tears were already slowing. "Yes," I agreed. I sniffed. "Even if…" I sighed. "Even if it means her childhood is taken from us." I pulled away from him slightly.

He nodded. "It won't be taken… just shared."

I nodded and smiled. "Kind of ironic, isn't it?" I asked. "You imprinted on me… and now Bryce is imprinting on her…"

"I think it's called karma," Jacob said with a sigh.

I wrapped him in my arms again. "We should go back," I said.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Probably."

We ran back to the house this time, hand in hand, me pulling him. Jacob shook the rain out of his hair as we stepped into the house, looking more like a dog than he ever did. The house was as dead silent as it had been when we had left. We walked into the living room quietly, but didn't move out of the doorway. I watched Bryce with Eila. He looked quite natural holding her, to be honest. Bryce wasn't smiling, but he looked scared out of his wits. It was probably his first time holding a baby this small.

"Hey Bryce," Jacob said.

Bryce looked up. "I just want you to know," Jacob said. "You piss me off."

I smiled, and started to laugh. My laughter broke the silence and Jacob joined in with me. Kaylie and Lauren came in with their identical laughter, and Bryce smiled.

"Well," Bryce said a minute later. "I suppose I deserve that." He sighed. "You know that moment," he said. "When you realize that everything's changing?"

"Yep," Jacob and I said at the same time.

"I'm there," he said.

Eila had fallen asleep, still curled in Bryce's arms. She looked absolutely adorable. I realized that this moment, and this emotion, would be the only thing Eila could ever remember. She wouldn't remember the first time she saw Bryce, or the way he looked at her now. But she wouldn't have to… because now until the rest of forever, he would look at her that way, the same way Jacob looked at me.

Bryce sighed a few minutes later. "Someone should probably tell Sam," he said.

"Probably," Jacob said. He stretched his arms out over his head. "I'll walk over there."

"Ok," I said. I looked at Bryce. "I'm going to come with." I took a deep breath. "Bryce," I said. I looked him right in the eye. "I'm going to leave Eila here with you." He let his air out slowly and quietly.

"Okay," he said in a monologue.

I came closer to him, so that I was standing in front of him. "Do you have any idea what I will do to you if something happens to her?"

He shook his head with wide eyes. "Have you ever seen a mother deer protect her fawn?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"Have you ever seen a vampire fight?"

"Yes," he said again.

"Mix those two," I told him. "Then imagine me coming at you."

His eyes got wider. "_Don't_," I repeated myself. "Let anything happen to her."

Jacob was silently laughing himself to death in the corner. I backed away from Bryce, and walked out the door with Jacob behind me. I heard Kaylie, Lauren, Collin, and Brady burst into laughter as the door slammed behind us. The walk over to Sam's was short, but we got drenched in the pouring rain. Sam answered the door before Jacob knocked.

"Where's the baby?" Sam asked as he let us in.

Jacob sighed. "Guess," he said.

"I have no idea," Sam said. Emily was sitting with Jennifer and Allison on the couch, reading a book. She looked up as she finished the story, and sent the girls into their bedroom. I could hear Brandon playing quietly by himself in his room, and Ryan was sleeping on a blanket by the couch.

"Guess the most unobvious answer you can think of."

Sam rolled his eyes. "A bird ate her," he said sarcastically. "What the hell's going on?"

Jacob took a deep breath. "Our dear friend Bryce imprinted on her."

Sam blinked. "Oh," he said.

I thought he was going to start laughing, but Sam knew what impact imprinting had on people better than anybody. "And how are we handling this?" he asked Jacob.

Jacob shrugged. "I don't think its hit me yet."

Sam nodded. "Is this a good thing?"

"That he imprinted on her?"

"Yeah."

"Yes," Jacob said. "It's just the circumstances aren't typical." Jacob closed his eyes and smirked. "It could get interesting the next time we all phase."

"I don't think I want to be there for that," Sam said with a smile.

"Probably not," Jacob agreed.

"And how are you taking this Nessie?" Emily asked as she folded her arms across her chest.

I shrugged. "She'll be happy," I said. "Even if it means she doesn't get to be one hundred percent mine."

"Make her yours," Emily said. "I'm sure you remember your mother and father fighting with Jacob to get you. You just switched roles."

I rubbed my eye. "Yeah," I said. I bit my lip. "That's it."

Jacob pushed his hand through his hair and sighed. "We should probably get back there."

"Yeah," I agreed. "We'll see you later," I said to both Sam and Emily.


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

Jacob took my hand in his as we walked the short distance through the streets of La Push that we both knew so well. I couldn't hear Eila crying as we came up to the house, so I assumed that she was alright. When we came in the house, she and Bryce had literally not moved a muscle. She was still sleeping, and he was still watching her; completely content.

I took off my wet sweatshirt and hung it on the coat rack by the front door. I stretched my arms above my head. Kaylie and Lauren were both in the kitchen with Collin and Brady now. They were almost done with dinner. I walked into the kitchen without really looking at Eila or Bryce. "Do you need any help?" I asked them.

"No," Kaylie and Lauren said at the same time.

"We're almost done," Lauren added.

"Alright," I said. "Let me know if you do."

"We will," Kaylie said.

I walked into the living room. Jacob was sitting in the recliner by Bryce and Eila. He wasn't saying anything but he was watching them closely. I took a deep breath and I sat down next to Bryce. He looked up at me for a brief second.

"Well," I said. I sighed. "Bryce," I said with a sudden thought.

He looked up at me. "Put her hand on your face."

Bryce looked at me curiously, but did as I told him. He gasped as he started to see her thoughts. "You can see her thoughts, right? I asked.

He nodded. I looked at Jacob. "I guess our idea was right. She can only show her thoughts to members of the wolf pack."

"I'm confused," Bryce said.

"Well," I started. "She can't show her thoughts to me, but she can to you and Jacob."

Bryce squinted his eyebrows. "Wow," he said.

"Yeah," Jacob said. "And considering she's also a shield; wow would be the right word."

"What does that mean?" Bryce asked.

"What does what mean?"

"A shield," he said. "What's a shield?"

"Like my mom," I told him. "She's a mental shield; nobody can get inside her head unless she lets them."

"Oh," Bryce said. His lips curved upward at her sleeping form.

"Come eat!" Kaylie called from the kitchen.

Jacob stood up, and so did Bryce. He was still holding Eila. I looked at him. "Bryce," I said. "I'll hold her while you eat."

He looked at me, and then looked down at our sleeping baby in his arms. He looked hesitant. It kind of irked me that he wouldn't even give me _my_ baby. "Bryce," I repeated.

He bit his lip and seemed to be thinking very hard. I was giving him three seconds before I went over there and took Eila right out of his hands…

He walked over to me and handed her to me. I looked at him until he met my eyes. I saw worry in his eyes.

"Bryce," I said yet again. "I'm her mother; could you chill for just a second?"

"I don't think you understand," he said very quietly, so that even I could barely hear him.

"No," I said. "I don't." I paused. "But don't ever pretend that you understand what I'm going through either." I spoke just as quietly as he did. I didn't know what it was like to imprint on somebody, and he had no idea what it was like to be a mother.

"I won't," he promised. I cradled our sleeping little angel to my chest as I lead the way into the kitchen. I wouldn't be eating anything of course. That habit had passed with my pregnancy. I usually just sat and visited while everyone else ate, but now I would be taking care of Eila. I sat down next to Jacob and Bryce sat across from me. He was still staring at Eila.

"Here," Kaylie said as she finished filling Bryce's plate. "Eat your pasta, lover boy."

He barely acknowledged her remark. "Bryce," Jacob said.

"Yes?" Bryce asked as he looked up at Jacob.

"Talk to me."

"About what?" Bryce asked Jacob.

"Anything you want."

Bryce thought about what Jacob was saying for a while. "What does she eat?" he asked as he started to eat his pasta.

"So far; blood and… other things."

"What kind of other things?"

"You don't want to know," Jacob and I said at the same time. I wasn't about to talk to a fourteen-year-old boy about my breast milk.

"Ok then," Bryce said. He took another bite of pasta. "How fast does she grow?"

Jacob sighed. "We're not sure," he said. "We're taking down measurements every morning and every night." Jacob sighed. "We don't really know if she's ever going to stop growing."

I watched as that thought sunk into Bryce's head. "So…" he said a minute later. "She… might not be immortal."

"Yeah," Jacob said. "The chances are very good that she will be, but there's no way of knowing. Logically, I'm going to assume that she is immortal, but we can't know for sure."

"And," I said. "We aren't going to think about that now. I think that it would be awful to worry our whole lives away when we might not have anything to worry about at all."

Bryce nodded. "Okay." He thought again. "Does she sleep?"

"Yes," Jacob said. "But not through the night yet."

He nodded. "How are you two feeling?" I asked Kaylie and Lauren.

"The puking can stop now," Lauren said.

I shrugged. "I bet it won't last much longer."

"I hope not," Kaylie commented.

"Do you guys have ideas for names yet?" Jacob asked.

"I only have a boy name," Kaylie said.

"And I only have a girl name," Lauren said.

"Well let's hear them," I said.

"Tyler Jonathon," Kaylie said.

"Anna Nicole," Lauren said.

"And you guys like those names?" I asked Colin and Brady.

"Yeah," they both said at the same time.

I nodded. "And you've still got plenty of time to come up with other names." I shrugged my shoulders. "We were kind of rushed when we decided on ours."

Jacob scoffed. "That's for sure."

"Can I ask you a question?" Lauren asked.

"Yep," I answered.

"Does it hurt as bad as they say it does?"

"Yep," I answered again. I smiled at her. "But trust me; it's worth it." I rolled my eyes. "Just as long as you don't go into labor thinking 'oh this isn't going to hurt, oh I'm tough, I'll be fine,' you shouldn't have a problem." I nodded. "Then again, I only had like four contractions before I was pushing. I don't have much room to talk."

Lauren smiled. "If you say so."

I ran my hand through my hair. "I would ask Leah if having a baby hurts. She would probably tell you 'no, as long as you don't have a broken pelvis.'"

Kaylie smiled. "That couldn't have felt too good."

"Nope," I agreed.

Eila squirmed in my arms as she woke up. She didn't fuss; she just blinked at me and smiled sweetly. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She didn't move for a while, just stared up at me.

I leaned down and kissed her. "Hello beautiful," I said to her. Bryce was watching intently.

She licked her little lips. "Does she keep you up much at night?" Collin asked.

"Nah," Jacob said. "Then again, we've only had her for about three nights now. I don't know… the only time it's a really big process to get her back to sleep is when she's hungry. Then we both have to be awake," he said.

I nodded. "I have a feeling that we'll probably have our most meaningful conversations at those times," I said randomly.

Jacob snickered. "Yeah, probably."

Eila made a soft little humming noise and I looked down at her again. "Hi," I said again. She started squirming in my arms a little, looking around her. I turned her around so that her back was supported against my chest and my hand was under her butt. "There," I said. "Now you can see everybody."

She cooed and I saw her smile again. I was already noticing; she didn't sleep as much during the day as most babies did. She slept more through the night than most babies of her age did as well. It was a good bargain for Jacob and I, but it made me wonder about how much of a normal life she would be able to lead. My parents put their heart and soul into making my very _unnormal_ life seem as normal as possible. Jacob and I would of course do the same thing for Eila, but there was only so much we could give her.

Bryce smiled at her, and she giggled. I smiled as I heard her laugh. It was very quiet, and very babyish, but that was the laugh she would have for the rest of her life. It was perfect to me. Jacob kept eating his pasta. Eila cooed again. Jacob looked at his watch and stood up.

"Excuse me," he said. "I'll be right back."

Jacob had told me earlier that day that around this time tonight they were going to have a timed what they called 'all out'. Basically, he and Sam were going to howl as loud as they could and then time everyone just to see how fast they could get there. It was a good thing to know in case of emergencies, Jacob explained to me. If you get into trouble and you're alone, you need to know how long it's going to take for someone to get there. It was kind of like calling nine one one, he told me. When you call nine one one, you want to know that someone's going to be there fast. It was just a security thing.

Kaylie shot me a weird look, but didn't say anything about Jacob's sudden departure. Just about a minute later Jacob's howl rang out from the woods. Bryce jumped up and sprinted out the back door, and everyone else around the table froze; ready to get up at the sound of Sam's howl. Sure enough, it came almost within the minute. Everyone jumped up from the table and was out the door so fast I barely had time to notice they were gone. Eila watched quietly as this occurred, but made no noise as the back door slammed shut behind Collin.

I stood up with Eila and turned her around so she was facing over my shoulder. I walked outside onto Collin and Kaylie's back patio. It was small, with only two chairs on it, but it was cute. It was only raining gently now; the cloud was passing. Eila pressed her face into my shoulder as I walked with her towards the woods. I didn't know where we were going, but we weren't about to sit at Collin and Kaylie's house alone.

I knew the woods I was walking into better than the back of my hand. I didn't have to look down to know when to step up over the protruding roots. I kept my hand on the back of Eila's head, and she cooed in my ear. "Alright sweetie," I whispered to her. I had an idea. "Momma's going to try to show you how to hunt." I kissed her. "Daddy's out here," I whispered again. "Now you just hold on tight and mommy's going to get you something to eat, okay?" She cooed again. "Okay," I said.

I didn't run as fast as I normally would have, because I didn't want to scare or hurt Eila. I held her close to me, and she didn't make any noise as we flew through the woods. I picked up on a small moose not far from here. The challenging part of this would be killing the moose while also holding Eila and keeping her safe.

It took me a second longer to get the moose down, considering I only had one hand. I broke its neck with my foot, and it died painlessly. I ripped open its throat so that its blood was running free, and then I turned my attention to Eila. Her big brown eyes were wide.

"Okay beautiful," I said. I kissed her. I held her close to the bleeding moose. "Here," I said. I knelt down and put her lips right on the moose. I watched her carefully. She pulled away from it at first, fussing, but soon she realized that what I was giving her was blood. She sucked at the moose gently for only a few minutes. She was too small to drink much. I finished off the moose after she had taken all she could drink, and I left the dry carcass where it had died. I wasn't very thirsty myself, and I knew Eila couldn't drink anymore.

I cradled Eila to my chest to make sure she was warm enough in this weather. Like most babies would after eating, she had fallen asleep. I started to make my way back to Collin and Kaylie's house. I didn't see any sign of the wolves on my way back, but I did see a pair of bare human footprints. They smelled like Brooke to me, but I wasn't one hundred percent sure. When I got back to the house, none of the others were back yet, but I decided to go in anyway.

I went into the house and decided to go see what Collin and Kaylie had done with their nursery so far. The room wasn't hard to find in the small house. When I opened the door to the tiny room, what I saw reminded me of exactly how Eila's room had looked a few days ago. The room wasn't messy, but it looked like there was still plenty to do. It was like you knew you had a bunch of things you needed, you just didn't know what you needed them for.

I walked back out into the kitchen just in time. They were just walking up the back lawn. I moved Eila to my shoulder, and held the door open for them as they came in. "Hi," I said. "How long did it take?"

"Only a little over four minutes," Jacob said.

"That's really fast," I said.

Jacob chuckled. "Yeah…" he said. "I remember the first time Sam timed us. It _literally_ took us fifteen minutes. I had to run back to get Seth because Leah had left him at home. He hadn't heard the howl and she thought he had. Sam was like 'Wow, if that would've been an emergency I would've just died.'"

Brady laughed. "Or the time Collin and I tripped over each other and almost broke our own necks."

Jacob and Collin laughed. "Yeah…" Jacob said. "We were worried about you guys… didn't think you'd amount to much."

"Ah," Brady said. "We didn't."

Kaylie raised her hands above her head and stretched. "Let's eat," she said. "I'm starving."

"Me too," Lauren said. She sighed. "I'm _always_ hungry."

"It goes away," I said as we sat down again. "But then you start to feel nauseous after you eat…"

"Ugh," Kaylie said. "This is going to be a really long nine months isn't it?"

"It'll fly by," I told her. "I promise."

That night, Bryce came home with us. We didn't get in until late, and Jacob and I put Eila right to bed. Bryce sat down on our couch while we laid her in her crib. "Hey," Jacob said as I was walking out of Eila's room.

He grabbed me by the hips. I wrapped my arms around his waist and smiled. He pressed his lips to mine. He was gentle at first, but soon became more passionate. I let my tongue trace his lips, and let him lift me off my feet. I was the one to pull away first. "Jacob," I whispered almost silently.

He smiled sheepishly at me. "Bryce is here," I reminded him. "We have to be polite."

He kissed me again. "Says who?"

"Me," I said with a smile. "Behave."

He set me back down on my feet. "_Fine_," he said.

"I'm going to go put my pajamas on," I said.

I went into our room and shut the door behind me. I heard Jacob go out into the living room and sit down next to Bryce.

"Jacob," Bryce said quietly.

"Bryce," Jacob said back.

Bryce sighed. He seemed to want to say something, but hesitated. I could tell Jacob was waiting for Bryce to speak. "I don't want things to change between us," Bryce said quickly.

Jacob paused, and seemed to be considering what he wanted to say next. "I don't want things to change between us either…" he said slowly.

They were both silent for a moment. "But they're going to," Bryce said confidently, if not sadly.

Jacob sighed. "Yes," he said. "But…" he was quiet for another moment. "The only thing we can do is make it change for the better."

Bryce was quiet. "Will you ever forgive me?" Bryce asked.

Jacob laughed under his breath. "Oh Bryce," he said. "I've already forgiven you; I just don't know it yet."

"Mm," Bryce said. "I see."

"One day I'll thank you," Jacob said.

"And why is that?" Bryce asked.

"One day," Jacob said. "You're going to make my daughter happier than any other person on this earth can make her. That's something I can't do for her and you can."

"I didn't understand until it happened to me," Bryce said a minute later.

"I know," Jacob said. "I've been there."

I pulled up my pajama pants and walked out to the living room. "Are you crashing on the couch?" I asked Bryce.

"If you'll let me."

"You're allowed," I said as I sat down on Jacob's lap. "But if she's crying and you're up before we are you have to put her back to sleep."

He nodded. "That's fair." He squinted his eyebrows together. "This could be an interesting night."

I laughed at him. "She doesn't wake up much," I promised.

Jacob stretched his arms and yawned. "I'm tired," he said.

"Me too," I said.

We both stood up at the same time. "We'll see you in the morning," I told Bryce.

"Mm," he said. I shut off the living room light on our way out, and I pulled Jacob into our room. I crawled into bed while he changed into a pair of shorts. He slept shirtless most nights in this warm weather, and tonight was no exception.

He climbed into bed next to me, and I pressed myself to him. I pushed my leg between his two and he wrapped his arms around me. I laid my head on his chest and listened to his heart beat. It was still one of the most beautiful sounds I had ever heard. "You know," I whispered. "Our lives really changed today."

He sighed. "Yeah…"

We were quiet for a minute. "Are you afraid?" I asked him.

"Absolutely terrified," he admitted freely.

"Me too," I said.

Change was a scary thing. We were afraid before Eila came… but that turned out okay. We were afraid when Bryce imprinted on Eila… but all we could do was hope for the best.

"It'll work out," I said, comforting myself as much as I was comforting him.

"I know," he said. The silence pressed in tightly on our ears.

"I love you," I told him.

"I love you too," he said. I leaned up to kiss him, and fell asleep minutes later.

The next two weeks flew by. I had to go take my final exams for school soon, and the moments I spent with Eila were never quite long enough. I enjoyed every second I spent with her. Jacob and I continued to measure Eila every morning and every night, and her growth rate was far above normal. When she was only two weeks old, she appeared to be the size of a baby who was about a month old. Thankfully though, her growing was slowing, just like mine had. Jacob said her thoughts were quite defined, and matured more so than he would've expected for somebody so young.

Bryce was always there. Or at least, that's how it felt. It was a rare occurrence for Jacob and I to spend a night alone with just Eila. She was sleeping soundly through the night now, but I still woke up sometimes to go check on her. Something she liked to do was curl up in a little ball on Jacob's chest. They would lie on the couch like that in the morning when I got ready. Sometimes she would fall asleep like that, and sometimes she would just lay there and coo at him.

Eila and I got to bond when I fed her. I took her hunting with me about two times a week, and fed her myself several times a day. She was getting stronger, and Carlisle said she was completely healthy. The rest of my family had finally gotten around to holding her. I had taken her to visit one morning while Jacob was running patrol. She had been awake for the whole visit and had been a good little girl. She didn't fuss as she was passed from cold hand to cold hand, and even let Andrea feed her a bottle when she got hungry. The only time she fussed was when Emmett held her. It had been quite hilarious for me, but quite concerning for him. He hadn't done anything wrong, she was just getting tired I think. I didn't tell him that though.

Eila rarely cried. She wasn't the type of baby who was fussy all the time, and I expected that was part of the vampire in her. The only time she really cried was when she was hungry… or when Emmett held her. Bryce was actually quite helpful sometimes. When Jacob wasn't there, or when we just needed an extra pair of hands, Bryce was there to help out. He was able to do pretty much everything Jacob and I could do. He was especially helpful at entertaining Eila when we needed him to.

On the last Friday of July, like most Fridays in the summer, we were having a bonfire. Jared and Kim were hosting it tonight. The bonfire usually started around seven, but there was never really an actual start time. Bryce had actually gone home that day, so Jacob and I were finally alone with Eila. I laid her out on a blanket in her room while Jacob and I packed her diaper bag together. Jacob put in some diapers and a few of her favorite toys and I took care of filling a few bottles. Jacob and I made a good team when it came to parenting, and that was always a good thing.

We got to the bonfire at about five 'til seven. It was just starting to get dusky, but it wouldn't be dark for a little while yet I assumed. I could hear the kids playing as we walked around the side of the house to the back.

"Nessie!" Jenny said as I came around the corner. She ran to give me a hug and I scooped her up.

"Oh Jenny," I said. "I've missed you."

I hadn't seen her, or any of the kids, since Eila had been born. It had been busy for everyone. "Nessie," Jenny said again. "You don't have a tummy anymore."

I laughed. "Nope," I said. I leaned into her ear. "I have a baby now."

"Where?" she asked.

I swung her around so that she could see Jacob. He showed her Eila. "Oh," she said quietly. "She's very small…"

"Mhm," I said. "She was even smaller when she was born."

"What's her name?" Jenny asked.

"Eila," I told her.

"She's pretty," Jenny said.

"Thank-you," I told her. I set Jenny back down on her feet and she ran off to play with Lexi and Kristin. Eila had woken up from where she was sleeping on Jacob's shoulder, and was looking around curiously at the new environment she was in.

She had her hand pressed on Jacob's face, but I wasn't sure if it was on purpose. Jacob was listening to her thoughts, but moved her hand away after a minute. "Hi!" Seth said as he came around the side of the house, pulling Abbey by the hand behind him.

"Hi!" I said back.

"I have to tell you something," Abbey said bluntly.

I squinted my eyebrows at her. "Shoot," I said.

"Well," she said. "I just got an ultrasound. Guess what we found out?"

"What?"

"I'm having twins."

I stared at her for one split second, than busted up laughing at her. It took Jacob a second longer to register what she had said, but soon he was laughing right along with me. No one else had heard the news, so they were all looking over at us like we had lost our minds. "What are you laughing about?" Brooke asked.

I pointed at Abbey. She sighed. "I'm having twins."


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER NINETEEN**

Brooke's reaction was identical to mine. More people had heard this time, and they were laughing too. "Oh," Brooke said a minute later as she slowly stopped laughing. "You guys are going to have… uh… fun."

"How'd you find out?" I asked Abbey.

She sighed. "I asked your dad to do an ultrasound because I was starting to expect that it was more than one baby."

"Hm," I said with a nod. "I see."

"You know," she said. "Even though I expected it, I almost passed out when he told me."

"Are you scared?" I asked her.

"Yes!" Seth said loudly, slapping on his sloppy grin.

"Not yet," Abbey said. "But I'll bet it hits me soon."

I smiled. "It'll be okay," I promised.

"If you say so," she said.

Eila started fussing quietly, and Jacob put her hand on his face. "She's hungry," he said.

I sighed. "Of course she is. That's the only time she cries."

"And when Emmett holds her," he added.

"And when Emmett holds her," I agreed.

Jacob and I walked over to the fire and sat down by everyone else. Eila stopped fussing as soon as Jacob put the bottle in her mouth. I felt the warmth of the fire burning my face, and the gentle warm summer breeze barely blew. There were people talking all around me, but I tuned the talk out to listen to the noises surrounding me.

A cricket chirped. An owl hooted quietly. The sun was falling behind the clouds quickly, and twilight descended. I could hear Eila's little lips sucking on her bottle just as hard as she could to get every drop of blood out. I could feel Jacob's chest moving up and down from where I leaned on him. I heard the faintest breath of leaves rustling.

Footsteps heading in our direction.

Fast- _too fast_- human footsteps.

I jumped up as the rest of the bonfire came flooding back into my senses. "Ness, what's wrong?" Jacob asked.

I was facing the woods, listening as hard as I could. "There's someone coming," I said. I don't know what made me so sure that whoever was coming was bad, but I did.

"Kids, go inside," Sam said. He had picked up on my frightened tone.

Claire jumped up and started herding the kids inside, taking Eila from Jacob. The other wolves could hear the footsteps now too. "Who _is_ that?" Jacob asked no one in particular.

I started taking deep breaths in through my nose, trying to figure out who was coming. The seconds were ticking by. "It's not a vampire," I said.

"Good," somebody muttered.

I didn't smell anything I recognized. It wasn't a wolf, it wasn't a vampire, is _obviously_ wasn't human…

The footsteps slowed to a walk.

My breathing stopped as I waited to see what would happen next in the deafening silence.

A tall, bronze-skinned man walked timidly out of the woods. He was young, but his eyes looked much older than his body. He was strong, towards the same build as Jacob. He was wearing a pair of shorts, and nothing else. He was filthy, but not injured.

"Who are you?" Sam asked after a pause of silence while we stared at each other.

The man seemed afraid to talk, afraid of what would happen. Although his entire body screamed of strength, and power, his posture made him look scared, and full of trepidation.

The man took in a shaky breath. "My name is Daniel." His voice was quiet, but not weak. His words, like his body, were filled with strength, and power.

"My name is Sam," Sam told him. He paused. "Can I help you with something?"

Daniel looked at Sam like he had grown two heads. He squinted his eyes. "You want to help me?" he asked slowly.

Sam blinked. He was taken off guard at the question. "Yes," Sam said finally. "If help is what you need." Daniel looked at his feet for a second. "Why don't you tell us… everything?" Sam seemed to decide that Daniel was going to need a little bit of help to get a conversation going. "Where do you live?"

Even at a question this simple, Daniel seemed to not know what to say. "Um…" he began. "I haven't been… home… for a while, but where I live is called Alturas."

The name sounded familiar, but it took me a second before I started to put the pieces together. Alturas… Alturas was the only place the Achomawi lived. Achomawi was the only culture _in the world_ that had a legend about humans turning into eagles…

I took a deep breath in to keep from shouting out the pieces I had just put together. I knew no one else had put together the pieces yet. I felt like a little kid in class who knows the answer but the teacher just won't call on you. I bit my tongue, and tried to keep a level head as anger coursed through me. This was the person that had hurt my family… _my Jacob_. I took a deep breath in through my mouth and held back the hiss that was tickling my lips.

"Alright," Sam said to Daniel. "Why haven't you been home for a while?"

Daniel looked down again. "I'm not wanted there." He said in a quiet voice.

Sam still hadn't figured it out, but I knew by the looks on the other guy's faces that some of them had. Jacob was one of them. Sam took a deep breath. "Why aren't you wanted there?" He asked.

Daniel blinked, but didn't hesitate in his answer. "Because of what I am," he said. "Because of what I've become," he added in a quieter voice.

I knew Sam was quickly catching on to what was going on. "I know how that goes," he said.

Daniel made to look around the circle. "Do you?" he said.

Sam nodded. "I used to." Daniel didn't say anything, but looked doubtful. "So," Sam said. "What is it you've become?"

Daniel looked around the circle again. "Judging by the looks on your faces, I think you already know the answer to that."

Sam nodded again, but more slowly this time. He took a minute to think before asking the next question. "How long have you been like this?" He asked.

"About seven years. I was seventeen," Daniel told him.

"Were you the first?"

"Yes," Daniel said.

Sam blinked. "How many are of you now?" Sam said.

Daniel had to think about that for a while. As far as I knew, it seemed like he should know how many people were like him. I assumed he was their leader…

"I don't know," he said a minute later. "I would venture to say there are about …eighteen of us… I know that there are eight girls… ten guys sounds about right… You see…" he took a deep breath. "It's been a long time since we've been… human. Some of us change back every few months… For me, it's been almost two years." He took another deep breath. "It's hard to tell the difference," he started. "Between who used to be somebody, who used to have family, and a life, and a future… and who's never been anything but a wild animal."

This was the first time he had actually mentioned turning into something. "So," Sam said. "You've mixed in with wild birds."

"Yes," Daniel confirmed. "I don't know how it happened… but it did." The pieces of the puzzle were all coming together now.

Sam cocked his eyebrow slightly, but didn't say anything. "How do you guys communicate with each other?" Sam asked blankly.

Now it was Daniel who cocked an eyebrow. He kind of shrugged his shoulders half-heartedly. "We can read each other's minds… but there's not much to think about when you've been like this for so long."

Sam nodded. We stared at each other for a long time before Sam finally asked the next question. "Why'd you do it?" he asked finally.

Daniel took a deep breath and blew it out as a breeze blew gently through the trees. "Have you ever been afraid?" Daniel asked.

Sam nodded.

"Have you ever been so sure of something, and then have what you thought to be the truth taken from you?"

I could've sworn I saw Sam look at Leah. "Yes," he agreed again.

"Have you ever been afraid that what you know is changing, that it's been changing for a long time, and you don't know how to stop it?"

Sam looked right at him. "Yes," he said again.

"That's why," Daniel said. "That's why I told them to do it. That's why I'm here now."

Sam nodded. "Okay," he said.

"I need to tell you a few things," Daniel said in his quiet voice.

"I'm listening," Sam said.

"A few weeks ago, we were planning on attacking you again." Sam blinked, but said nothing. "We were working with a group of… vampires who were planning to attack… friends of yours."

The memories of what my father had said the night Eila had been born came flooding back to me. He'd said that it had been almost too easy… I guess it was easier than they had intended. "They attacked anyway," Daniel said. "And you helped them, like we had guessed."

Sam nodded. "So we did."

Daniel looked down and sighed. "Guilt is a funny thing," he said. "It can make you do things you regret, and things you don't." He blinked again. "I don't regret what I did," he said. "No one should attack people like you." He sighed heavily and clenched his fists, very frustrated. "And I'm _so_, so sorry for doing what I did. For what we did. I'm so sorry."

Sam waited until Daniel was looking him in the eyes. "It's okay," Sam said. The breeze blew through the trees again. "I forgive you." He cleared his throat. "I can't say that I understand everything you've been through, or where you're at, but I can sure relate." Daniel nodded. Sam looked around for a second. "Tell me something," he implored. "Where are you going to go tonight? Where do you have to stay? Who are you going to stay with?"

Daniel shook his head. "I'll just go back to where I came from. Wherever and whoever I find to be with is where I'll stay. We stick together somewhat… but not always."

Sam took in one deep breath and bit down on his lip. "Do you know each other's names?" he asked.

Daniel sighed. "I do… or I know who's thinking what at least. I've learned the names as they've come… I might get a few of them mixed up."

"What are the names you can remember?" Jacob asked, speaking up for the first time.

Daniel scratched his head. "Um…" he said. "There was Adam, Ricky, Landon, Scott, Alex, Brian, Robert, Corey, Justin… he was the youngest guy I think, still a teenager… And then me, Dan. For the girls there was Lyssie… But her real name was Alyssa I think. She was the first girl… Then there was Mikayla, Natalie, Jocelyn, Amber, Kaitlyn, and Nicole. I might be forgetting someone… there were so many of them changing at that time I just didn't know what to do… I think that Amber and Jocelyn are twins… in fact, I know they are. They're identical. Oh yeah, and Ashley changed just about a year ago I'd say. She's only about fifteen…"

"Do they have any place to go?" Sam asked.

Dan looked dumbfounded. "I have no idea," he admitted. "Adam and Ricky… they've been with me for a long time… I don't know when they were human the last time. I don't think they could go home even if they wanted to."

Daniel shrugged. "Well," he said. "My conscience was eating at me… and I needed to meet you… Maybe I'll see you again sometime…" He held up his arm. "I'm the one with the black stripe across my wings…" he started to turn around and move back into the woods. He was slipping back into a life he had known for a long time… it didn't seem right…

"Wait," Sam said.

Daniel stopped, and turned around to face Sam slowly. Sam took a deep breath in, and blew it out through his nose. "You'll stay here," he said.

Daniel looked more confused and questioning than ever. "That's not a question," Sam said. "That's a demand." I saw his lips curving upward into a smile. "Go," Sam said. "Bring them here. As many as you can find, get them here. We'll wait. I want to help you," Sam continued. "Please let me."

Daniel's mouth fell open slightly in shock. "It's not our place," he said. "We deserve to be treated like dirt under your feet after what we did-"

"No," Sam said, cutting him off. "That's what you think. That's why you need to come stay here. No one in their right mind should think like that."

Daniel shook his head. "I can't let you do that," he said.

"You can," I said, using the voice I was given. "And you will."

Daniel raised an eyebrow, noticing me, taking me in for the first time. "You're…" he started. "A vampire?" It had become a question.

I smiled slightly. "Not quite, but you're close. It's a long story, but I'll tell you it sometime. Just go get your… family… and bring them back here."

Daniel looked like he had been hit in the face with a water balloon, but he said no more on the matter. "You're sure?" He asked.

"One-hundred and twelve percent," I responded. "Just go."

He nodded slowly. "Thank-you," he said.

"Anytime," I answered as he started to make his way back into the woods. As soon as he had vanished, I moved into action. "I'm going to take the kids to my parent's house," I said. "I'll let them know what's going on. They'll keep them as long as we need them to."

"Right," Jacob said.

"I'll help…" Emily said as she started to move from where she stood by Jared and Kim's back door. We both walked into the house quickly and started to help get the kids out the door and into our cars.

"Where are we going?" Jenny asked as she grabbed her little sister's hand and started to walk her out the door.

"My parent's house," I told her.

"Why?" Nick asked.

I met eyes with Emily. This was the first time that any of the kids had questioned what we were doing. Considering the only world they knew was supernatural, how did you explain that to a seven-year-old? You can't exactly tell them that they might get hurt if they stay with you… You can't explain to them that their world _isn't_ normal. "What's wrong?" he questioned.

"Nothing's wrong," Emily assured him. "It's just… better that you don't stay here. You'll have more fun there anyways."

Memories of my parents telling me things like that flooded into my mind._ I_ had figured out what was going on eventually…. And Nick and Jenny would too. They all would soon enough... including Eila.

I called my mom on the way over to their house. I spoke to her quickly and quietly so the kids wouldn't hear me. I told her everything I could, and she listened, like she always did. They were waiting for us when we got there. My dad and mom were sitting on the front porch, and I could hear the others waiting inside. "Hi," I said distractedly as I tended to opening both of the back doors of my charger. Nick climbed out of the front seat of the car himself.

"Hi," they both said at the same time. I unbuckled Alli from her car seat and pulled Paige gently from her carrier. I unhooked Eila and pulled her into my other arm. My mom took the babies from me as soon as I got there and my dad opened the front door for all of the kids. Emily gave Ryan to him, and I thought of how much had changed since I had been born. A few years ago, Emily wouldn't have dreamt of giving her baby to a vampire. So much was different now… It made me wonder if Eila would look back when she was my age and say the same thing.

"We'll be back to get them as soon as we can," I promised.

"Take your time," my dad said.

I nodded. "Thanks," I said.

"Anytime," he answered.

"Oh," my mom said as we started to walk away. "When was the last time she ate Ness?"

I looked at my watch. "About twenty-five minutes ago." I shrugged my shoulders and smiled a little. "She should be fine," I told them. "Unless you give her to Emmett…" I said this just to annoy him.

"Ha!" he said. "Let her cry!"

And he retaliated well. I rolled my eyes. "C'mon," I said to Emily as we climbed in our cars.

Emily led the way back to La Push in her SUV. When we pulled up to Jared and Kim's house, it didn't look like Dan or anyone else had come back yet. Everyone was pretty much standing around waiting the way they had been when we had left. I went to stand by Jacob.

He sighed. "Things are changing again," he said.

I nodded and repeated his sigh. "I guess we can either run from it, or take it as it comes at us."

"I would run away," he said. "With you," he added. "If I could."

I nodded slightly again. "I guess our only option is to take it as it comes at us."

He gave me a tiny smile. "This is probably going to be scary," he warned.

"I'll cover your eyes," I promised. "But only if you'll cover mine."

"Hm," he said. "I believe I told you on our honeymoon that I would."

"Yeah…" I said. "Good times."

He laughed. "It was…" he shrugged his shoulders. "It still is… it's just a different kind of good times."

"Right," I agreed with a big smile.

Just then, I heard it again. The sound I had heard less than an hour ago when Dan had walked out of the woods. The pounding, yet muffled human feet. He was coming back… And by the sound of it, he had several people with him. The others had heard it too, and they stopped their conversations to see what was going to happen.

In the next moment, Dan led the way out of the woods. He was still very timid, but he looked much more like a leader when I saw all of the people following him. Some of them, especially the smallest girl, looked absolutely petrified.

"Hi," Dan said again.

"Hi," Sam said back.

"This is Adam," Dan said, pointing out a fairly tall, but not quite as tall as himself man a few feet away from him. He had all the classic Native American characteristics; broad shoulders, copper skin, strongly built. He looked very strong, just like Dan in appearance. Dan pointed out the rest of the people following him. They were all very similar in skin and hair color. The girl I noticed most… Lyssie I think… looked like one of the toughest people I had ever seen. Her face looked like she had been through hell, and she wore a no-nonsense kind of expression. She looked like what an army officer appears to be. She was strong, yet did not look unkind. Dan had been right about Amber and Jocelyn being twins… they looked as much alike as Lauren and Kaylie did.

The most timid of all of them was the one Dan had pointed out as Ashley. She was standing behind everyone else, and she looked very young. She couldn't have been fully grown when she had changed… she was small, but looked strong. Her head was bowed, and her eyes were on the ground. She looked like she could've been crying… if she even knew how to anymore.

"I'm Sam," Sam said, introducing himself for the second time that night.

"I'm Jacob," Jacob said, taking the lead. Everyone in the backyard followed suit and said their names.

Dan raised an eyebrow. "Do all of you… uh… change?"

"No," Sam said. He pointed out a few of the girls, including me. "None of them do. Actually," he started. "We've split into two packs, but we can still communicate with each other." He explained how Jacob was the other alpha and how they could read each other's minds, making it possible for the others to read each other's minds as well. If one of them could read the others mind, then they could hear all of the other thoughts that person was hearing too.

"Oh," Dan said blankly when Sam finished explaining. Dan bit his top lip; something I recognized as a reaction to stress. He had _so_ much weight on his shoulders. I didn't even know this guy… but he needed our help. Even though what he did to my family was wrong, I knew that he… and all of them… deserved better than this.

I was the first to realize what was going on. I saw the looks on their faces. That open mouthed, droopy eyed, sloppy smile plastered on their face look. That's when it started to happen on the other side of the invisible line that had been drawn between the two packs.

I saw the girl called Mikayla fall backward and land on the ground in a heap. Then it all happened at once. Natalie, Jocelyn, Amber, Kaitlyn, and Nicole hit the ground. People all around me were panicking and not even Sam… or Jacob… knew how to gain control. Ashley, the timid one, looked like she was going to pass out from fear, and in a split second, I saw a wave of pure emotion go over her eyes. She stared at something I didn't bother looking at, and then her eyes rolled back in her head and she crumpled into a ball on the ground. Somebody screamed… just a quiet, terrified yell, and I saw the girl… Lyssie I think… holding onto Ashley, rolling her onto her back.

I didn't know what was going on. I had been raised to fight panic like it was the plague, but it was welling up inside of me like nothing ever had. I had never seen anything like this before. I ran toward the falling girls, toward the falling people. Leah was already with two of them I noticed, trying to get everyone's attention. I heard Sam's strong, clear, calm voice ring out over all of the others.

"Quiet!" he yelled. He wasn't angry, but he got his point across. "Stop moving!"

Sam took one quick, yet calming breath in through his mouth. "Leah…" he said.

"Sam," she spit out. "Look at them…"

She pointed at Caleb, Jeremy, Matt, Lucas, Nathan, Kyle, and Wyatt. They all looked like they had been hit with a brick wall, but they were _all_ smiling. "Caleb!" Sam said sharply, getting his attention immediately. Sam took another deep breath. "Did you just imprint on one of them?" he pointed at the fallen girls.

Caleb nodded, completely silent.

"Which one?" Sam asked.

"Her name is Mikayla," he told Sam. He sounded like he had said the name of a goddess. He pointed to one of the girls that Leah was kneeling by, rolling her over onto her back.

Sam swore. "God help me…" he muttered. Sam took in a deep breath and blew it out slowly through his nose. He ran his hand through his hair, something I knew he did when he got overwhelmed. Though, he remained calm, if not a little frazzled.

"What is…" Dan started. "This… um… imprinting?"

Sam rubbed his temples slowly. He looked up at Dan and said, "Imprinting is like mating, only stronger. Animals mate, and… people like us... apparently imprint. I can't really explain it to you… but it pretty much dominates your life. Everything that matters is within that person." He pointed to Emily. "I imprinted on Emily when I was eighteen. We've been married for almost nine years now… She's still… _everything_ to me." I thought I could see him smile slightly. He scoffed. "We thought it was rare… but I guess not."

Dan cocked an eyebrow at him. "You're right," he said, shaking his head. "I don't understand. Not really any way… I get the gist of it though. But… why did they pass out?" He looked concerned.

"That's just what happens," Leah spoke up. "When girls… well, imprint, they faint. Usually it's because of the rush of emotions that comes with imprinting. It's… overwhelming… They're probably going to be really afraid… and _extremely_ confused when they come to…"

"Anyways," Sam said. He turned to his pack. "Raise your hand if you just imprinted on somebody."

Seven hands immediately shot up, and I heard Collin snickering a few feet away. Sam slapped his forehead with his hand. "_Really_?" he asked.

"Uh-huh," Jeremy muttered.

Sam sighed. "Alright," he said. "Um… tell me who you imprinted on then."

"Natalie," Jeremy said.

"Jocelyn," Matt muttered, half-heartedly trying to speak.

"Amber…" Lucas said.

"Kaitlyn," Nathan said clearly.

"Nicole," Kyle said, running his fingers through his hair.

"Ashley," Wyatt said. He looked completely out of it. He was one hundred percent zoned in on her.

"Okay," Sam said, looking over at the fallen girls. "They're going to wake up soon. Why don't you go lay them on their back so they're not flat on their faces when they come to?"

They all moved at once, but in all different directions. They ran into each other, but didn't seem to mind. I had to hold in my laughter. After they got to their girls and flipped them over onto their backs, Sam spoke again. "Alright…" he said. "I'm not going to lie. I have absolutely no idea what to do."


	20. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER TWENTY**

"Don't put so much pressure on yourself Sam, you're not always obligated to know the right answer," Paul said.

Sam closed his eyes and nodded. "How about…" Jacob said. "We just let them wake up… and see how things go. I don't know about you," he said. "But I'm going to get the hell out of here when they start talking. I… know what it's like to imprint on somebody… I don't need to see it played out again."

Sam chuckled. "Yeah… me neither. That's a good idea anyway…"

"Lyssie," Leah said. The girl looked up, and I could've sworn I saw something pass between the two of them. Common ground perhaps, or maybe it was just a mutual understanding that they both knew how to fight, and what to fight for. "Come with me," Leah said.

Lyssie looked skeptical, if not a little frightened. "Where… are we going to go?" She asked tentatively.

Leah blinked at her. "We're going to get in my car, and drive as far away from here as fast as we can."

At that moment, I understood what Leah was doing. She knew that Lyssie was _very_ alone, even if Lyssie didn't understand it yet. No one understood the full force of imprinting until they experienced it. Lyssie didn't understand what it was like to be the one who _wasn't_ imprinted on… But Leah did.

Lyssie stood up from where she was kneeling. "C'mon," Leah said. "Let's get out of here…"

Lyssie still looked really confused, but tentatively followed Leah. I heard Leah say something to her as they walked around the house, but I wasn't paying enough attention to hear what she was saying.

I saw some of the girls starting to squirm, and their heads started to roll as they woke up. One of them mumbled something that sounded an awful lot like a curse word, and their eyes started to fly open.

"Uh…"

"What?"

"Where am I?"

"Why am I laying on the ground…?"

These were the things that started coming out of their mouths. The boys… their imprints… were all talking to them, but to me it just sounded like a rumble of voices. I knew that they would both only be able to focus on each other at the moment, so it probably wasn't very confusing for them.

"Boys!" Sam said. They all stopped talking, but didn't seem to be able to take their eyes off of the girls they had just accidentally fallen in love with. "Listen to me carefully," Sam continued. "We're going to leave you to… explain to them what's going on, okay? I'm going to take the other guys to stay at your houses okay?"

Lucas, Nathan, Kyle, Wyatt, and most recently Bryce, all shared a house near the edge of the La Push reservation. Caleb, Jeremy, and Matt all lived in a much smaller house about a block away from where Jacob and I lived. "Okay…" Some of them muttered.

Sam sighed and seemed to think about what he was going to say next. "Do what you need to do tonight," he said. He bit his lip. "But _please_, make responsible decisions."

"Okay…" they mumbled again.

"Alright," Sam said. "All of the rest of you," he gestured to the guys standing awkwardly around the fallen girls. "Come with us. We'll get you something to eat and settled in for the night."

Sam started to lead the way towards the boy's houses, and we all followed. The other guys… the eagles… were all a little tentative as they walked behind us, but they came anyways. "Do you all want to stay together?" Sam asked as we walked.

"Whatever is easiest for you," Dan spoke up immediately.

"Alright," Sam said. "Then we'll just take you to the bigger of the two houses. You'll be a little cramped, but this is just temporary."

"Thank-you," Dan said. "So much… I can't tell you how much this means to me… How much this means to us."

"It's the right thing to do," Sam said. "It's what should be expected of us. It's what should be expected of everyone."

"That's a good attitude to have," Dan said.

We were at the house by then. Sam knew that they never locked their front door, something that only five boys living in a house together would forget to do every single day and night. Sam opened the front door and Jacob and I followed him into the house, flipping on lights as we went. Their house was pretty unorganized as always, but at least they kept it sanitary.

Sam pushed some old newspapers off the couch and onto a side table and I brought some chairs in from the kitchen so more people could sit down. "Sorry it's a little messy," Sam said. "But I told them I wouldn't make them keep it organized as long as it was safe for my children to play here without getting some harmful disease."

Someone snickered. "I'll make you guys something to eat," Emily said.

"I'll help," Kim said, and Rachel and Abbey both followed her into the kitchen. I squeezed Jacob's hand as I let it go, and went to help as well. I spaced out while I focused on my cooking, and wondered what my family was doing with all of the kids. I wondered if Eila was okay, and then immediately realized that she was fine. She was with my parents, and they would never, ever let anything happen to her.

We weren't making anything spectacular, just a few cans of chicken noodle soup, and Kim was putting together a salad. I was buttering bread, and stacking it on a plate. We had it ready in no time.

They had talked a lot while we were cooking, and I'm sure they were much more warmed up to each other now. Sure enough, when I went into the living room to tell them that the food was ready, they were all laughing about something together. I smiled. We had just made some new friends… and with someone that could've so easily been an enemy.

While they ate, they talked a little bit more about themselves. Jacob was forced to tell his entire story, pretty much from the time he changed until the day I was born. It took him a good half-hour, but he told it quite tastefully. The others told a little bit about themselves, and it was a good time. The eagles told us a little about their childhoods… and how it had been when they had changed. They didn't know very much about each other, and they knew much less about the eight girls that had been in their heads for the past few years. All they knew about them was that Lyssie was really tough, and Ashley was really timid. The two of them were together a lot they said, but even they didn't know that much about each other. Lyssie had made it her goal to protect the other girls from some of the things she had gone through while being the first girl to change. She had had to deal with a lot of things that they hadn't had to deal with… At one point they had worried she was really going to lose herself. They felt bad for her… but they hadn't really known what to do to help her. They were all kind of afraid of the female gender… That reminded me of some boys _I _knew.

"I was thinking," Dan said. "About how you…" he pointed at Joel. "Uh… Joel," he remembered his name. "Didn't change until you were older. You said that it was because your dad was the younger brother of Jacob's dad, and you didn't receive the wolf gene as strongly as Jacob did, right?"

"Kind of," Joel said. "It's not that I received the gene any less strong, I just received it later than Jacob because the gene had to progress throughout the generations. He was first in line, and since he was the only boy in his house with no children of his own, I was next in line to change. Or at least, that's what we think. We could be totally wrong."

"Right," Dan said. "The only thing is though…" he trailed off, thinking. "You see, I have a cousin just like that. He's my father's younger brother's son. He's not older than me… but he's a lot older than Ashley… or Justin. Uh…" Dan said. "What year is it?"

"2015," I answered. I should've been shocked that he didn't know the year, but I wasn't.

"Wow," Dan said. "The last time I saw any of my family was… 2012 I think. I changed in 2008…" He thought for a while more. "I guess… I guess that would make my cousin, Michael, about twenty."

"I don't know about you," Joel said. "But I'm thinking that there's a really good chance that that boy is going to change pretty soon."

"You think so?" Dan said.

"I'm just assuming…" Joel said. "Hey," he continued. "You know how we explained to you that the reason we change is because of vampires, right? Whether they are dangerous or not, we still change?" They had already told them all about my family.

"Right…" Dan said.

"So… well… why do you guys change? Do you have any idea?"

Dan shook his head. "The only thing I've ever been able to find is usually in Achumawi, our language, and I'm not very good at reading it. I've only been able to get rough translations. The word for _protect_ is in the legends a lot, but that's one of the few words I know how to spell. If someone could read the legends out loud to me… then I would understand, I think. I've guessed… I've guessed that we… change… to protect our tribe from _something_. I have no idea what that is… It could be anything… even you guys. I doubt that it's vampires, but that's a possibility as well. _Anything_ could be. All I know is that we're the first people to change in a really long time. It's happened before this… but I have no idea when." The others were quiet for a while. We all thought about what he had said, but it didn't seem that any of us had any more of an idea than Dan did. "About my cousin, Michael…" Dan said, changing the subject. "Should we… do something?"

Sam shrugged his shoulders tentatively. "Well…" he started. "Will you know when he changes?"

Dan squinted his eyes. "Well we usually pick up on it pretty fast because someone… most of us, actually… are in our eagle forms when they change."

"So," Sam said. "If he were to change tonight, or tomorrow, or the next day, and no one was in their eagle form, someone wouldn't tell you?"

"No one knows how to get a hold of me," Dan said. "And they wouldn't even if they did know how."

Sam nodded. "So maybe… maybe you should organize it somehow so that one of you is always, or almost always, in their eagle form. That's just an idea though… and I wouldn't try to make any of those girls leave the boys' side for a while. That could get ugly…"

Dan nodded. "It's a good idea… structure is something we've never had."

"If I'm breaking it down correctly…" Sam ventured. "You could all do about eighty minute shifts once a day… that would keep you covered."

Dan nodded again. "For now…" he said. "I think that's just something to think about."

"Does anyone want anything more to eat?" I asked.

"No thank-you," they all mumbled together.

"Alright," Sam said. He looked at his watch. "Wow," he said. "It's getting late. Um…" he looked around. "I guess we'll just leave you guys to get settled in here. Help yourselves to whatever you need. He turned around to the refrigerator and wrote something on the white board the boys kept there. "My number's on the fridge," Sam told them. "Please, don't hesitate to call if you need anything. Um…" he thought again for a minute. "We'll probably meet you all here in the morning. It won't be after eight, I'd say."

"Alright," Dan answered. "Thank-you," he said again. "So much."

"Anytime," Sam said.

Sam led the way out of the kitchen and through the front door into the midsummer night's air. It was beautiful out for a July in Washington. "Alright," I said as the last person shut the door behind themselves. "Do you want me to ask my parents to watch the kids overnight or do you want to go get them?"

"Let's just go get them tonight," Brooke said. "It's either tonight or tomorrow morning."

A few people agreed. "I'll call them," I said. I looked at my own watch. It was almost midnight. "They're probably asleep though," I muttered to myself.

Joel stretched his arms above his head. "I wonder where Leah is…" he thought out loud.

"Hm…" I said. "I'm betting they don't get any farther than the state border. I'm sure she'll be back by tomorrow morning."

"You're probably right," he said. "I'm just _really_ hoping that Paige doesn't get hungry before then. Cause if she does, we're pretty much going to be screwed."

"Does she take formula?" I asked.

"Not well," Joel said. "And especially not at four thirty in the morning."

"Yeah…" I said. "Then you might be screwed."

"Yeah…" Joel said. "Maybe she won't be hungry."

"Wishful thinking is a powerful thing," I said, thinking of Siobhan.

"Right," Joel said, drawing the word out.

It wasn't much longer before we got back to Sam's house and we grabbed our cars. Jacob and I led the way to my parent's house, down the familiar roads, and twisting lanes that I had been driving for as long as I could remember. The lights were on of course, like they always were, no matter what time of day. I pulled into the driveway, and I knew that they knew we were here.

My dad opened the door as I walked up the steps with Jacob behind me. "Renesmee," he said. His face looked… a little sad.

"Dad…" I said, questioning.

"Come for a walk with me," he said.

"Dad, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing's wrong," he said. "I just need to talk to you about something."

I could tell that Jacob was worried about me as I followed my father down one of the familiar paths behind the big house. It wasn't actually a path, just a familiar route I'd been on many times. "What's going on?" I asked him as we went deeper into the dark woods.

He took a deep breath and blew it out threw his nose slowly. "Nessie," he said. I braced myself for whatever was coming next. "We _have_ to leave."

I bit down on my top lip hard, and looked down at the damp forest floor. I should've seen it coming. I _really_ should've seen it coming. They'd stayed here for much too long… almost fifteen years. I was trying hard not to cry, but the idea of living in this town without my parents to turn to, or without my family's comfort and support scared me, a lot. I was going to be alone… or at least more alone than I had ever been before. They were leaving, and I couldn't come with them. I _wouldn't_ come with them. I just didn't realize how hard it was going to be to let them go.

"Daddy…" I said quietly. He pulled me into his arms, just like I had wanted him to. He didn't have to look at my face to know I was crying, I was sure he could've heard it in my voice.

He wrapped me in his arms tightly, and held onto me while I tried to stop crying. "Please," he said to me. "Please don't cry Nessie, please." He was trying to make this better, but I knew it was a vain attempt. "It'll be okay," he said.

I nodded, but I still had my head pressed into his shoulder. "I know," I said.

"I'm sorry," he said.

I shook my head. "Don't be," I said with a sniff. "This is what needs to happen."

"Yeah," he said. He sighed. "You know Ness, I've been to a lot of places, and I've left a lot of places. When we came back here I never thought I'd be leaving here fifteen years later with your mom, and four more brothers and sisters. I never thought I'd be leaving my daughter and granddaughter behind."

"Nobody did," I told him. "Not even Alice saw this one coming."

He chuckled. "Nope," he agreed. "Not even Alice."

I let go of him and he let me pull back from him. "When do you leave?" I asked. "Where are you going to go?"

He sighed again. "We're going to be moving to Cleveland. We're falling back into our default… we're going to be either foster children or kids that were adopted. Ness," he smiled. "We're all going to go back to High School. Zach…" he trailed off. "Well, he decided to not go away to college just yet. Connor, Julia, Zach, and Andrea are all going to be freshmen. The rest of us are going to be sophomores. It'll be… interesting."

"What are you telling everyone?" I asked.

He sighed. "We're going to say that Carlisle was offered a higher position at a big hospital there. The rest of us are just going to stick with him, we'll say…. I guess. I don't know. That would sound really weird for any other family… For their grown children to move with their parents… But for the mysterious Cullen's… I think we can pull it off."

"Yeah…" I said. "That is really weird if you put it like that… Especially since a lot of people know about Eila…" It had been getting kind of weird around town… It had been strange enough when Edward and Bella Cullen, the high school sweethearts, had a daughter themselves just a few years later. The story had gone out when I was finally growth-stagnant and finally going to High School that I had been adopted. We stuck with the plan that my dad's older brother from his 'birth family' had died a long time ago with his wife, leaving behind a young daughter. The story was that I had been put through foster homes and orphanages until my father had 'turned eighteen' and was offered full custody, after an extensive background check, considering he was my only living family member. When that little girl got married a few years later and had her own baby very young… it got downright awkward.

"We'll just make sure we don't put it like that then."

"When do you leave?" I asked again.

"Well," he said. "We've given the hospital enough time to find at least one more doctor, and we told them we don't want it to be a big production. We should be out of here at most in about three weeks. Esme and Alice have already started the packing."

I nodded. "This is going to be hard," I said with a sigh. I looked up at him. "Promise me that we'll call each other every single night?"

"I promise," he said. "And we'll probably come back down here for Christmas or something. It might just be your mom and me though."

"Either way," I said. The night air was cold. I looked toward the bright lights shining from the big white house several yards behind me. "Come on," I said. "I want to go get my baby."

"Right," he said with a shrug. We walked to the big house together, and another question occurred to me.

"How come mom wasn't out here during this little episode of my life?" I asked him.

He laughed at my analogy. "You know," he said. "She just didn't want to see you cry. They've got their hands full in there anyway."

I giggled. "Was she good?" I asked.

"Of course," he told me. "She got a little fussy about an hour ago but a bottle put her right back to sleep."

"Good," I said as I slid the back door open and walked into the kitchen.

The kids were all asleep, so it was somewhat of a big production to get them all out into their separate cars without waking them up. Sam was carrying Jenny down the stairs as I leaned on the entryway into the living room from the kitchen.

Her eyes were closed, and she looked like she was sound asleep. "Daddy," she said suddenly. Her eyes stayed closed, but she sounded fully awake.

Sam seemed surprised that she was awake. He stopped where he was on his way out to the car. "Yes Jennifer?"

"What happened?" she asked sweetly. When he didn't respond, she tried again. "What happened after I left? Why did you make me go inside? Why did I have to come here?"

"It's just better that you were here," Sam reassured her.

"Why?" Jenny asked again. "Is something wrong? Who was that person you were talking to when I was inside?"

"Nothing's wrong," Sam said. "And that was just somebody who… isn't a friend yet, but I think he will be. We might have a lot of new friends."

"Daddy," Jennifer said, her head still on Sam's shoulder with her eyes closed. "You were scared." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah," Sam said after a minute. "I was."

There was silence. "I was too," Jenny said quietly. Sam didn't know how to respond. He was still standing stock still, almost out the front door. "But I didn't want to be," Jenny said quickly. "And I didn't want Alli to be afraid… or Lexi and Kristin. I pretended I wasn't afraid, but I was."

"That's a very brave thing to do, Jenny," Sam said.

"What's that?" Jenny asked.

"What's what?"

"Brave."

"Oh," Sam said. He thought about it for a minute. "I guess it's just something… It means that you do what has to be done even if you're scared to do it."

"They didn't know," Jenny said.

"Who didn't know what?" Sam asked.

"The little girls," she continued. "They didn't know that they should be afraid, so they weren't. Nick was afraid though. He told me that when we were supposed to be sleeping upstairs."

"You don't need to be afraid," Sam told her.

"Why not?"

"Because," Sam said. He rocked her in his arms. "I promise that I'll never, ever let anything hurt you, okay?"

"You promise?"

"I promise."

She yawned. "I'm tired."

"I know," he said as he continued to walk her out to the car.

Sam came back inside after he had put her in the car. Emily had heard their conversation while she had been holding Ryan, seeing as he was too young to be put in a car unsupervised. "That was intense," she said casually to Sam. "You just had a real person-to-person conversation with our daughter, you know."

"Yeah," Sam said absentmindedly.

"It doesn't matter," my dad said suddenly.

Sam looked at him, and I knew immediately that Sam had been thinking about something that needed to be addressed. "It doesn't matter how many times you break that promise," my dad clarified. "She won't care."

"But I will," Sam said. "I don't really like to break my promises."

My dad nodded. "Me neither, but I can assure you that that is one that I have broke."

"Yep," I agreed cheerfully. "And I didn't care."

"And I did," my dad said. "It was pretty rough…"

"Yeah…" Sam said.

"But hey," my dad said. "We've all broken promises. Dad's aren't the only fools who do it."

"I broke a lot of promises," my mom said suddenly from where she was sitting on the couch, still holding Eila. "Right after I married you," my mom continued, cocking her head at my dad. He voice was perfectly casual. "Although we made a lot of promises… A lot of promises that we wouldn't have made had we known how things were going to go down."

"Yeah…" my dad said, thinking. "Although we did keep one promise at least."

"Yeah," my mom said. "I don't see that one changing any time soon."

I couldn't see my parents without each other. They had promised to love each other for forever, and that they would.

Jacob and I took Eila home, and considering where Bryce lived was inhabited by a bunch of almost-strangers, I told him to crash on our couch for tonight. He most likely would have anyways, but I was just throwing out the option for him. I wanted him to be able to ask us for things like that without it being awkward.

It was extremely late when Jacob and I finally crawled into bed, and we fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow. Jacob had set the alarm for seven, but I hit the snooze once before we finally got up. Bryce was still sleeping like a rock when I came out to the kitchen to make up a bottle for Eila. Like most mornings, Jacob got Eila up while I made her a bottle. He would feed her while I got ready for the day, and then we would switch. I knew that our schedule was going to change a lot when I started school again in the fall, but I figured we could worry about that then.

Jacob was meeting everyone behind Kim and Jared's house (where we were sure all of the boys were still with their girls) at eight, so I hustled getting ready. Jacob left almost directly after he was done showering and getting dressed, so I didn't get to see him much. Eila and I hung around the house for most of the morning, doing laundry and listening to the radio, cleaning up the house, and filling up some more bottles for her. By the time noon rolled around and Jacob still wasn't back, I was beginning to wonder what was taking so long.

Apparently I wasn't the only one, because Rachel called me around twelve thirty to see if I knew where Jacob was. I told her I didn't, and she asked me if I wanted to come over. She didn't have work obviously; it was a Saturday, so I told her I'd love to. I packed up Eila's diaper bag and threw it in the back of my charger while putting her in her car seat. She cooed at me while I buckled her in, and I kissed her little head. She was still _so _small… and she had grown to almost the size of a five-week old baby.


	21. Chapter 21

**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE**

I was only at Rachel's for about an hour when something surprising happened. Brooke knocked on the front door quietly. I opened the door, surprised. "Brooke," I said. "What's going on?"

She ran her hand through her hair, and pulled a piece of a leaf out of her somewhat tangled strands. "Well," she said. "A lot."

"C'mon," Rachel said, gesturing her inside. "Come into the kitchen, the kids are watching a movie."

We sat down at the kitchen table together; I could still see Eila from my seat. "Okay," Brooke said. "So basically we were out in the woods, and we were running a bunch of places. We were trying to show them all of the places that we go, all the places we've found, and a bunch of other stuff. That was how we spent like the first three hours. That wasn't the crazy part though." She took in a deep breath. "Do you guys remember what Dan was saying last night about his uh…cousin, Michael?"

"Yeah…" I said.

"Do you remember when he said he would know if Michael changed?"

"Oh my gosh…" I said, plopping my head in my hand. This _couldn't _have happened… "He didn't change did he?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"He did," Brooke confirmed. "They all freaked out. All of the sudden they started flying all over the place and panicking. I don't even want to know what their thoughts were like." She took in another breath. "We didn't really know what was going on until Adam changed back to try and explain to us what had happened. He was still really confused about everything, but he at least got the point across. At the time, we weren't really aware that it had been Michael who had changed. Adam hadn't known that either."

"So what'd you guys do?" I asked.

"Well," she said. "We followed underneath them to where Michael was. He looked absolutely terrified… or as terrified as a bird can get. Dan eventually got him to change back… and that's when things got really weird. We were all so confused still about what was going on… and this just made it worse. You see…" Brooke said. "Leah and Lyssie had got back from wherever they went and met us in Kim and Jared's backyard at eight…"she paused. "Are you putting the pieces together yet?"

I thought about what she was saying, but came to no conclusions. "No…" I said. "What happened?"

Brooke sighed. "Lyssie and Michael imprinted on each other," she said bluntly.

I choked on my spit as I was swallowing. "What?" I screeched through my coughs.

"You heard me," Brooke said. "It took us a good ten minutes to get everyone calmed down before Lyssie woke up. Let me tell you, it was confusing. I wasn't even sure what was going on all the way. We didn't even realize that it had been Michael who had changed until after he had imprinted on Lyssie."

I let this information sink in. Imprinting was supposed to be rare…. They were way off the mark on that one. "Wow," I said a minute later. "Where's everyone else now?"

"Different places," Brooke explained. "As far as I know, Lyssie and Michael are still sitting on the forest floor where we found Michael. The younger guys and all of their girls are all over… Some of them might still be in the woods. Lauren and Kaylie never made it out of bed this morning because they're both puking their guts out, so Brady and Collin went home to take care of them. I have no idea where Seth is, but he better be at home if Abbey's puking. Jacob, Sam, Jared, Paul, Quil, and that dear husband of mine are all out walking and hiking through the woods with the eagles. They're all a little overwhelmed right now if you can believe it or not. Leah and Joel… I actually think that they were going home. And me, well, I came back to let you all know what's going on. I was hoping I could catch some of you together."

"Wow," I said. "That's crazy."

"Yeah…" Rachel agreed. "That's… oh wow, that's our life."

I laughed and so did Brooke. "Yep," she said. "That's us. We're just the crazies." She laughed again, and then stood up. "Well," she said. "I have to go tell the others where everyone is. I'll see you later."

"See you," I said. I thought it was funny how quickly something could happen that could change your life forever. My life had always revolved around Jacob… there had only been about five minutes in my life where Jacob hadn't been everything that mattered. It didn't seem possible to me that there was ever a world without Jacob, or that there could be one without him in it. I loved Jacob more than I loved anything else in the world, except for maybe Eila of course. In one moment… your whole world could change.


	22. Chapter 22

**Epilogue: Full Circle**

On the day that Eila turned five months, we were all taking a trip. It was only a year-and-a-half after the camping trip we had taken, but so much had happened, and we were all missing out on the slow life. Since we had met the eagles, as they had started to commonly be called, everything had gotten bigger. Our family had doubled in size, and now we had two practically different species running around. Although we were all very different, and came from very different backgrounds, we all loved each other. I had become close with most of the girls in one way or another. I had told them my story, and they had told me theirs. They were some of the toughest girls I knew, and I had met a girl named Leah Clearwater long before that.

My family had moved away about four months ago. It had been really hard at first, and I missed them a lot. Jacob had held me while I cried myself to sleep on that first night, and Bryce had held Eila. I felt like I had had my very heart ripped out of my chest, and Jacob was the only thing holding all of the broken pieces together. When you had never known anything other than having a family close by, it was hard. Especially when you had a family as close as mine was. I called them on the phone every night now, and they were planning to come down and see us over Christmas.

The big white house that I had practically grown up in didn't stand empty though. All of the eagles, Dan, Adam, Ricky, Landon, Scott, Alex, Brian, Robert, Corey, Justin, Mikayla, Natalie, Jocelyn, Amber, Kaitlyn, Nicole, and Ashley were all living there. My family had offered it to them just a few days after we had met them. The house was filled with thousands of memories for me… but I knew it was time that it be filled with thousands more for them. There was plenty of space, and Jocelyn and Amber slept in what used to be Alice's closet alone.

As for the house I had grown up in, well, my parents had given that to them as well. None of them really lived there as far as I was concerned, but I knew Lyssie and Michael were planning on getting married in just a couple of months, and I was betting that they took that house as theirs.

We were actually taking a trip to a place my family owned, but I hadn't been there since I was newly conceived in my mother's womb. We were heading out to the infamous Isle Esme. We were only going to be out there for about nine days, and then we had to get back. We were all taking off of school and work for a week and a half, but we were only missing a few days because of the thanksgiving holiday. We were planning on it being rather relaxing, but we had to endure an hour-and-a-half drive from Forks to Seattle, then a four hour flight from Seattle to Dallas, then a thirteen hour flight from Dallas to Rio de Janeiro, and finally about an hour boat ride to the Island. Considering we had three almost-full-term pregnant woman, fifteen children, nineteen eagles, nineteen wolves (minus Lauren and Kaylie), and five other imprints, that was going to be one hell of a trip. All together, we were going to be bringing sixty-one people to the island. It was a little crazy… but hey, that's what we lived for. We had planned our trip out so that we left super early in the morning, and got to the island super late. That way our sleeping schedules would go unhindered. We were hoping beyond hope that the kids would sleep for a lot of the trip, but considering that we would be flying during the middle of the day for them, we would have to get really lucky.

We were a little concerned about traveling with woman who were about thirty-seven weeks, but we had decided to take advantage of the holiday break. They were all three weeks from their due dates anyway.

We left for Seattle at about midnight, and got to the airport around one thirty am. The kids slept the whole way, and we had plenty of hands to help carry all of them into the airport. Considering there were so many of us, we made up ninety-eight percent of the almost non-existent lines at the airport. We were on board our plane by about two-thirty, and I caught a little bit of sleep on Jacob's shoulder. We had been the only ones on the entire flight, and the pilot had barely believed us when we had told him we were all together. Our cover story was a family reunion, and the many copper-toned faces made that story easy to believe. We made good time, and got to Dallas at about six am. The airport was much more crowded at this time, but we somehow all managed to stay together. I was in charge of giving our huge stack of tickets to the airport workers, and we were all processed with our passports and everything by seven. We were taking off around seven thirty, once again startling the captain and making up the entire flight. We were hoping to be landing at about eight o'clock our time, but it would be about midnight by theirs.

When we got off the plane, we already had two transportation busses waiting for us that we had planned ahead of time. Everyone had only brought one bag, and the kids had all been smooshed together into only about five bags. Eila, who was now about the size of a seven month old baby, was scattered between mine and Jacob's bag. Eila smiled, and laughed now, and she was already starting to crawl a little. She didn't make much sound, but she wasn't shy. Jacob and I had calculated that Eila would start to physically grow at a normal rate by the time she was a year. She would never have the life that I had had, and we were both thrilled about that. Jacob told me that her mind continued to race ahead of her though, and that was why she didn't exhibit many baby characteristics like fussing, or making noise.

My dad had been teaching Michael how to steer the boat of theirs that we were taking to get to Isle Esme. He had gone boating a lot when he was younger, and I was confident that he could get all sixty-one of us to the island. The boat was a little small for the amount of people we were going to be putting on it, but my dad said it should be totally safe. When we got to the docks, I sleepily led the way to the boat I recognized more by the fading smell than anything. Michael confidently started preparing us to leave as we all loaded onto the boat. All of the sleeping kids were being held by someone, and that saved a lot of room.

I had a moment of excitement rush through my body as we finally left the docks. Abbey, who was standing next to me, was now huge with twins. Although, she was smaller than most people who were carrying thirty-seven-week twins would be. Or maybe it was just the way she carried herself with such confidence…

We had only been going for about ten minutes when I heard a whooshing noise, and then heard Abbey gasp next to me. "Oh!" she said.

Many pairs of curious eyes turned to look at her, including mine. I heard her swear, something I had never heard her do before. "Oh… my… _gosh_…" she groaned.

"What's wrong?" I asked, already fearing the answer.

She gasped again and moaned. "My water just broke."

All hell broke loose. People were swearing, a baby started crying, everyone was yelling.

"Shut-up!" Someone screamed so loud it hurt my ear drums. Several eyes looked to Leah, who looked a little crazed, but not panicked. "So help me," she said. "The next person that panics I will throw off this boat!"

The only noise was the boat's engine and the slapping of the waves. "Now," she said.

Her sentence was cut off by two more whooshing noises that I heard, but I was probably the only one.

"Oh!"

"Ow!"

I just sighed as Lauren and Kaylie consecutively and very unceremoniously went into labor as well. "Mercy…" Someone muttered.

"Okay," Leah said, continuing. "Now that we've established that, uh… we have to do _something_."

"I'll call my dad," I offered in a monologue, handing Eila to Jacob.

"Oh my god…" someone said.

My dad answered after the first ring. "Hello?"

"Dad," I said, as calmly as I could. "Abbey, Lauren, and Kaylie all went into labor."

I heard so many swear words from so many different people in the next ten seconds I thought that my ears might be physically harmed.

"O… kay…" my dad finally said. "Uh…" he swore again. "I _don't_ know _what _to _do_!" He finally spat out.

I heard someone speak up from next to my dad. "We're just going to have to talk you through how to deliver a baby," Carlisle said, ever calm.

I swore out loud. "Dad… I don't think…"

"Don't you say that," he scolded. "This isn't an 'I don't think' situation. There _is_ no other option. You _have_ to do this."

Of course my father would say that. I groaned. "Great…" I said. I sighed. "I'm going to need some help."

"Tell Abbey to deliver her own babies," I heard my mom say from a few feet away.

"I don't think that's a good idea Mom," I said.

"Actually…" Carlisle said. "Hm…"

"Let me talk to her," my dad said.

I looked over to where Leah had got Abbey, Lauren, and Kaylie to sit down on one of the benches in the boat. Lauren and Kaylie were both extremely pale, and they looked scared. They each had one hand in their husband's hands, and the other in each other's hands. Seth was holding both of Abbey's hands and rubbing his thumbs back and forth across the back of her palms. Everyone was really stressed out; not the environment a baby should be born in.

"Abbey," I said. Her frightened eyes looked up at me. "My dad wants to talk to you."

She held her hand out for the phone. "Hello?" she said.

"Hi," my dad said. "How are you?"

"Well I'm just great," Abbey said without missing a beat. "How do you think I am?" she snapped.

"Sorry," he said. "That was a stupid question."

She gasped and moaned. "_Oh my gosh_ this hurts!" she said into the phone. "This is crazy!"

"I know," I heard my dad say. "Just try to take a deep breath."

She did as he said. "Okay," she said.

"Alright," my dad said. "So… how do you feel about helping deliver Lauren and Kaylie's babies while you're giving birth yourself?"

She called him such a dirty name I started hoping that the kids couldn't hear her on the other end of the boat.

"Well," my dad said. "After I stop bleeding, you just let me know what your answer is."

"Oh my god!" she said loudly. "_Why_ would I say _yes _to that?"

"Because you're a good person and you'd have bragging rights for like, the rest of eternity."

She moaned. "_Really_?" she begged of him. "This is going to suck!"

"Probably," my dad agreed.

She sighed. "What do you want me to do?" she asked, resigned.

"I want you to figure out how dilated the other two girls are."

Abbey swore again. "_We_ are _on_ a _boat_!"

"I know," my dad said calmly. "Make everybody look the other way."

Abbey pulled the phone down from her ear and glared at everyone who was standing around watching. "You heard him!" she half yelled. "Look the other way!"

Everyone hastily looked the other way. "Abbey," Leah said tentatively.

"Yes?" Abbey snapped.

"Do you need any help?" she asked.

Abbey sighed, and tried to relax. "No," she said. "But _they're_ going to." She pointed to Lauren and Kaylie.

"Right," Leah said. "And I'm going to need help with that."

"Uh…" Emily said.

"Yeah, I mean you," Leah responded.

"I was worried you did."

"You too Nessie, you're related to people who've done this…"

I sighed. "I don't think that counts Leah."

"Ah," she said. "But someone needs to at least pretend they know what they're doing."

"I vote you," I said.

"Ow!" All three of the girls said at the same time. I thought it was ridiculous how precisely these things happened at the same time. I was sure it had something to do with the wolf gene. Abbey had her hand squeezing the back of Seth's neck tightly, and he was holding onto her with all of his might. She was _so_ small… And pretty young to be having a baby. Two babies, none the less.

"Holy Mother of Mercy," Lauren said through gritted teeth. "This is ridiculous!"

Abbey had dropped the phone that my dad was still hopefully waiting on, so I went to pick it up. "You still there?" I asked.

"Yeah," my dad said. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, but I have a feeling that these babies are going to be here sooner, rather than later."

"Did Abbey check how far along they are? Because I'm ninety-nine percent sure that that's how far along she'll be."

"Not yet," I said. "Do you want me to do it?"

"Do you know how?"

"No," I said. "But I could sure guess."

"I appreciate the effort, but I think it would be a better bet if Abbey did it."

"Okay," I said. I looked over at the girls to see if the contraction had eased yet, and it had. "Abbey…" I said tentatively.

"I'm going," she said quietly, and I could see that she was crying. "Just give me a second."

"Take your time," I told her. She pushed herself up onto her knees slowly; I gave her my hand and helped her get in front of the other girls.

She took a deep breath as I knelt down by her. "Okay," she said. "I'm going to do this as quickly as I can, Lauren." She shook back her sleeves. "Just… uh… spread your legs."

"That's not awkward at all," Lauren said sarcastically as she performed the action. Brady had her in his arms, and Leah and Kaylie were holding her hands.

Abbey took one more deep breath before she went to it. "Holy shit Abbey!" Lauren yelled. She moaned. "That… does… not feel too nice!"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry just…" she was becoming a little panicked. "Relax, I can't tell where you're at when you're all tensed up like that…"

"It's okay," I said. "Everyone's okay, take a deep breath, we'll get through this. We're okay." I tried to sound as convincing as possible.

"Oh!" Lauren said as Abbey pulled back.

"I'm sorry!" Abbey said. "Man… they don't really tell you how much it hurts when they teach you how to do that…"

"It's fine…" Lauren said. "I'm fine… I just gotta keep telling myself that."

"There you go," Emily encouraged. "You're fine."

"How far are they?" My dad asked. I jumped; I had forgotten that the phone was still by my ear.

"Uh…" I said. "How far are they?" I asked Abbey.

She smiled, looking proud of herself. "About eight centimeters."

I heard my dad swear, and my mom. "Uh…" I heard Carlisle say. "Let me talk to her."

Carlisle was put on the phone. "Okay Ness," he said. "How far are you from the island?"

"Michael!" I yelled. "How far are we from the island?"

"I would venture to say about seven more minutes, I can see it," he replied calmly. Michael was almost a spitting image of Dan. They both must've looked like their father's, because they looked so similar to each other. Michael was tall and broad shouldered, with plenty of muscle to fill out his lanky form.

"Seven minutes," I reported.

"Good," Carlisle said. "Now tell all the girls that have had a baby before to get ready, because they're going to be delivering some babies tonight."

"If you've had a baby, get ready for this, because you're going to be delivering some babies tonight," I called out.

"Oh sweet mother…" I heard Rachel say.

"Now tell all of the guys to stop standing around and make themselves useful. When you get to the island, you're going to need four shoelaces, several blankets, clean water, sterilized pocket knives, and a whole lot of calm."

"Boys!" I yelled. "Be useful. When we get on the island I want to see some serious teamwork. We need clean water, four shoelaces, blankets, sterile pocket knives, and _nobody panic_!"

They all looked at me dumbly. "You heard her," Dan said loudly, powerfully. "Do what she tells you!"

"Yes sir," Wyatt said. "Please don't hurt me…"

I heard the next contraction hit the girls rather than saw it. I could see Sam explaining to everyone the quickest way to get off the boat. The Eagle girls, plus Claire, were officially in charge of making sure that none of the kids got trampled. I trusted that Eila would be safe. "Hold on just two minutes girls," I called to them.

We were fast approaching the island, and when we got there Sam's plan worked perfectly. Everyone was off the boat in just about three minutes. The girls were carried off the boat by their husbands, who were thankfully calm, if not a little worried, and I directed them to the beach behind the house, leading the way. I only knew where I was going because of the few pictures I had seen, and I wasn't all that confident in what I was doing.

Seth gently set Abbey down on the beach, coming behind her and wrapping himself around her like a monkey. Brady and Collin were holding Lauren and Kaylie in similar fashions. "Okay we're on the beach behind the house," I told Carlisle. "Which by the way is beautiful."

There were glass doors on the back side of the house that looked like they led into a small kitchen, and I could see lights being hurriedly flipped on in there, and cabinet drawers opening and closing as they looked for supplies.

"I feel like I should push," Abbey said through gritted teeth, breathing heavily. Jacob came out of the house carrying a box with the supplies we had requested.

"Uh-huh," Lauren and Kaylie said at the same time.

"Let me talk to Abbey," Carlisle said.

I put the phone to Abbey's ear, and Carlisle spoke to her quickly and calmly. Her answers were mostly one-word, and soon she nodded for me to take the phone back. "They're going to be pushing on the next contraction," Carlisle said as soon as the phone was to my ear. "Tell the other girls to just stay calm, and be confident it what they're doing."

I heard Leah and Emily's cell phones ring simultaneously. "That's your parents calling them," Carlisle told me. "That way there can be some one-on-one instruction."

It looked like Brooke and I were going to be helping Abbey deliver her babies, Leah and Kim helping Lauren, and Emily and Rachel helping Kaylie. I could hear Leah and Emily talking to my parents, and the other girls, but I tried to stay focused on Abbey. I grabbed two blankets out of the box, and two shoelaces. My hands were only shaking a lot.

"Well," I said to Abbey. "Here we go Abs, just try to breathe through it all right?"

"Right," she said.

"Assume the position of your choice," I told her.

She spread her legs and leaned backward onto Seth. He wrapped his arms just below her chest and above her stretched stomach. "Push when you feel it," I told Abbey. "Try to hold it for ten seconds."

She took a deep breath in, and as she blew out, started pushing. I counted to ten for her slowly, and Seth was whispering in her ear as she breathed and got ready to push again. "Good," Carlisle said. "Good."

Abbey pushed hard again, and I could see the first baby's head after the ten count. I knew that the other girls were pushing on the other side of me, but they weren't important right now. I had to focus on Abbey. "Good Abbey," Brooke commented. "You're crowing sweetheart, the baby is almost here."

"Push again," I told her. "There you go," I encouraged as she gave a little squeal and I saw the baby's head slip out, right into Brooke's waiting hands.

"Stop pushing," Brooke said immediately.

Abbey stopped, and Seth held onto her tightly as she panted, trying to catch her breath. "Easy," I heard Seth say. "Everything's okay, they're almost here."

"Almost here…" I heard her repeat.

"Give me one big one," I told Abbey, and Brooke positioned her hands on the baby's head. She knew what to do.

Abbey pushed and gasped, Brooke pulled, and I watched as the baby literally slipped into Brooke's hands. She immediately took the pocket knife and cut the umbilical cord cleanly, and tied it with one of the shoelaces, which I noticed was bright, neon green. I looked over to the other girls for only a second, and saw that both Kaylie and Lauren had successfully delivered their first child.

"It's a girl," Brooke told Abbey, and I held the little girl up for her to see. "Just one more now, push on the next contraction."

"She's beautiful…" I heard Abbey whisper to Seth.

"Yeah…" he said; he sounded like he was in shock.

I wrapped the squealing baby girl in one of the blankets, wiping the blood from her face, and cleaning her airways.

"Keep pushing…" Brooke said. "C'mon…"

When I looked up I saw that Abbey was already crowning. "Good…" Seth encouraged quietly.

Abbey kept pushing, and before I knew it, she was moaning as the baby left her body. "Oh!" she gasped, panting. She started looking around for her babies, and I brought her her daughter as Brooke cleaned off her other baby. "It's a boy, by the way," Brooke said calmly. There were four babies screaming now… Four new lives were now in this world.

I handed the little girl into Abbey's waiting arms, and she nestled her to her chest. Seth was smiling of course, and I didn't think that I had ever seen him happier.

I held the phone to my ear that I had had perched between my shoulder and my chin while the babies had been born. "Is everything okay?" Carlisle asked.

"Yeah…" I said breathlessly. "Everything is just… beautiful."

Carlisle laughed. "I take it that everything went well?"

"Yeah…" I said. "Everything is fine."

"Glad to hear it," Carlisle said. "What did they name the babies? I'll make birth certificates."

"What are their names?" I asked.

"Tyler Jonathon," Lauren said.

"Anna Nicole," Collin said.

"Elizabeth Grace," Seth said.

"And Evan Mitchell," Abbey finished, wiping the tears out of her eyes.

"Beautiful," I said. "You guys did amazing."

"Yeah…" Abbey said. "That was pretty crazy."

I said good-bye to Carlisle, promising to call him if we needed anything. I stood up and brushed the sand off my jeans. "C'mon," I said to no one in particular. "Let's go wash our hands."

My hands were now officially covered in blood, sand, sweat, water, and amniotic fluid. It was disgusting. "Good idea," Brooke said, following me.

We could see everyone standing at the glass back doors as we walked up the beach, and I felt remotely self-conscious as everyone stared at us. The door got pushed open as they let us in, and we stepped inside.

I was expecting there to be a lot of questions. What I wasn't expecting was the dead silence that greeted us. I looked around at everyone, curious as to why they were silent. They seemed to be looking at me and Brooke in the same way. "Oh," I said, suddenly realizing the meaning of the silence. "Everything's fine. There are four brand new babies out there right now."

I felt the tension in the room that I hadn't noticed before ease as everyone took a huge sigh of relief. "Do you guys want to go see them?"I asked.

"Sure…" someone said, drawing out the word.

"Okay," I said. "Let me wash my hands and go make sure that it's okay with them."

I found my way to the kitchen, and thought about how different the mood must have been the last time people inhabited this house. The house must have been left in a panic; the last thing that had happened here had changed _everything_.

I checked with the girls before I let everyone else come out, and they said that it was okay. Abbey was actually falling asleep on Seth's chest when she had mumbled her answer, but it was a yes anyhow.

I led the long procession of people out onto the beach, pulling Jacob by the hand. Eila was sleeping like a rock on his shoulder, a little smile on her lips.

Abbey was completely out by the time we got out there, but she had Evan cradled in her arms. "Hi," Seth said tiredly as we surrounded them.

"Hi," several people said back.

"Were they boys or girls?" Claire asked quietly.

"Some of both," Seth answered, and I laughed at his tired thoughts.

"How about you two?" Claire asked.

"Well," Lauren said, still somehow awake. "Brady is holding Tyler."

Brady looked like he was afraid to take his eyes off of his son. "And Collin has Anna," Kaylie mumbled.

"Elizabeth and Evan," Seth said. "Their names are Elizabeth and Evan."

Marc, who was lying on Brooke's shoulder, was staring at the two babies in a strange way. "Baby," he said, pointing them both out to his mother.

"Yeah," she said. "Two babies."

"Two babies," he repeated in his little boy voice. He looked at his sister, who was sound asleep on Embry's shoulder. "Twin," he said, pointing to the babies.

"Yeah," Brooke said. "They are twins."

He pointed to Madi. "Like… Madi and Marc."

"Yes," Brooke assured him. "Just like you and Madi."

He giggled, and then started to drift back to sleep. A few people laughed at him, but it was the cutest thing I had ever seen.

"I think he gets it," Embry said. "He generally thinks that any two babies are twins, but I think he _really _gets it now."

More people laughed at this. "Don't laugh at me…" Abbey said sleepily, drifting in and out of sleep.

Seth smiled. "They aren't laughing at you sweetheart."

"Oh," she said.

"Hey Abs," he said.

"Mhm?"

"How did this happen?"

"Uh…." She started.

"I mean… this is crazy."

"I thought we established that fact earlier."

"We did," he said. "But it's really hitting me now."

"Don't worry," she said. "Be happy."

"Right…" Seth said.

"Besides," she said. "We make our living on crazy."

He laughed, and so did several other people. I reached my hands above my head and stretched. "I'm tired," I said with a yawn.

A murmur of agreement came from all of the people behind me. I looked toward the house, and then back toward everyone else. "We should go inside," I said. I scoffed. "Besides, I'd kind of like to see the house…"

"I'm coming," Jacob said with a yawn. "This has been the longest day ever."

I looked at the people still sitting on the beach. "Are you guys going to come inside?"

Brady looked up at the sky. "Is it supposed to rain tonight?"

"Nope," I said.

"Then nope," he answered. "Probably not."

"Okay then," I said.

We all made our way into the house and Jacob led me to the big pile of bags where all of the luggage had been dropped in their haste. I grabbed the handle of my red duffel and heaved it out from under the pile. I then grabbed Jacob's black one, and put it with mine. "Alright," I said. I looked around the house. "How many bedrooms are there, and who are we bunking with?"

"I have no idea," Jacob said.

I shrugged, and we started to walk through the house. I counted the rooms as we went through, and tried to not think about all the things that could've happened in them. When I finally finished counting, I had reached a grand total of eight bedrooms, six bathrooms, and four couches that were hopefully pull-outs. When we made it back to the main living room everyone was pulling their bags out of the pile, and just trying to get organized. We were all super tired…

"There's eight bedrooms, six bathrooms, and four couches," I said.

"Including that?" Emily said, pointing to a huge white bed over by another set of wide doors leading to the beach.

"Whoa…" I said. I hadn't seen that bed before… I guess I had been too busy with other things. "Oh my gosh…" I slapped my hands over my eyes. "That is a _very_ weird place for a bed…" I groaned. "Especially for people who don't sleep."

Jacob was silently laughing at me behind my back, as were several other people. "Well," I said. "Who wants _that_ bed?"

A bunch of people cracked up at this. "Seriously though…" I said through gasps. "Where's everybody sleeping?"

"There's… forty-six full grown adults. Six of whom are sleeping on the beach tonight. So that leaves… what, five to a room? Or we could split four and six. Six to the bigger rooms, four to the smaller…" Emily said. "I figure the kids will sleep anywhere they're put."

"Or we could just put them all in _that _bed," I said.

"Fine," Emily said.

"I can sleep on the couch and keep an eye on them if you need," Claire said.

"Yeah…" Bryce said.

"Okay…" I said. "So you two are taking the couches out here then. Now for the rest of us…"

"We can split six and four," Dan said.

"Right," Brooke said. "And for the rest of us… All I can say is nobody make any babies tonight."

Everyone cracked up. "I was being totally legit," Brooke said seriously as she cradled Marc to her, smiling.

"Just go find a room," I said, still laughing. Jacob and I followed everyone else to the back of the house where we all split up. Jacob and I ended up in a room with Kyle and Nicole, and Leah and Joel. My dad called me while we started to unpack our bags, and told me that there were a few cots in one of the back closets. I found them fairly easily, and told everyone to help themselves.

Our room had two double beds with roll out trundle beds beneath them, so we were covered. Jacob and I were laying in our bed about an hour later that night, with Nicole in the trundle next to us. "So," Jacob whispered to me. Eila was out sleeping on a blanket by the big bed with the kids in it, perfectly content.

"So," I repeated him.

"What a crazy night."

"You're telling me," I said.

He laughed. "Although," I said. "I guess this house… this place…has kind of come full circle. This place was left in a panic because my mom was pregnant… and it was reentered in a panic because babies were being born. Things have changed so much… yet they are still so much the same."

He nodded slowly. "I suppose your right," he said. "Circles are unending… nothing really stays the same while you're running around the circle… but everything ends up alright."

I smiled. "So does this mean we get to begin the circle again?"

"I would say so, yes," Jacob answered.

"Great," I said. "Because I wouldn't change a thing."

Jacob kissed the top of my head. "Me neither."

"I love you," I told him.

"I love you too," Jacob agreed.

And we started running on the circle again.

**THE END**


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